True Realitites
by HighStormCommanderHanji
Summary: Science says that we exist amid countless separate, yet connected Universes. The barriers between these Universes could be as thin as a sheet of paper, or as far off as another galaxy... Or even as close as the hair on your arm. No one knows what would exactly happen if someone happened to find a way to break these barriers and cross through. Well, all except for one...
1. Intro

They say that there is no God, that the Universe around us has no will or hopes… They say that the Universe simply _is, _ and that in order to believe anything else one must surrender a certain degree of sanity. They say that in order to see reality one must give in to reason, and surrender all aspects of the soul to the endeavour of truth. They say many things, it seems, and for all that they say, ironically, so little truth comes from them. Humans and truth have a very rocky relationship, so to any that would sit back and watch, and for all of the accolades they attribute to the truth, it so rarely sees the light of day.

They say that the Universe simply _is_, and to believe anything else is simply not the truth. Well, if you couldn't tell from my tone, I'm not one to believe whatever they say. I say differently. I say that everything happens for a reason, and in order to have truth, you have to follow your instinct. It's there for a reason, and to deny such a simple yet useful evolutionary trait would be a waste. So, instead of learning truth, I went out to find it for myself.

I found a lot of things after my Dad died. One night I wake up to hear breaking ribs in the next room over. I heard my mother in the most terrified voice I'd ever heard try to get answers from the 911 receptionist. I learned what CPR does to a person when it's done right, and I learned that even if you prayed with all of your might, for what feels like an eternity, God doesn't answer your prayers… And I don't blame him, not anymore. It's kind of like being a self- help guru with a phone line. After a while, the requests start getting so damn ridiculous that you shut the whole thing down, deciding that people need to help themselves once in awhile. If I was God, I would be in the same mindset.

But, that didn't stop me from being a bitter asshole. While I watched them lay his body into the ground, I thought my heart was going to drop out of my body, it felt so heavy. That feeling took years to go away. I took that pain everywhere I went, and in a way, it defined me. I saw what that same pain did to my mother, the way it twisted and broke her from the inside out, and the way she became a whole new person after watching her husband fall back into the Earth. You see, the pain defined both of us, but where her heart broke in half, mine grew a second skin and weathered the storm.

For me, life became a simple routine. I went to school, I came home, I comforted my mom however I could, and then I went upstairs and did my work. Sure, I dabbled in video games a bit, but my life revolved around a pretty monotonous cycle of work and home life. If this sounds generic, bland, and depressing to you, that's because it really was, and while I still had my good times, the bad just seemed to loom over everything else like a dream that you just couldn't forget about. I stuck to my cycle to forget about my pain, and I looked at things as objectively as possible to do the same thing. That taught me to be analytical and patient about problems, but in the end my emotions were still stagnant.

For four years, I struggled with my cycles and my emotions, with my regrets, my pains, my successes and failures, my friendships and fuckups, my woes and worries. I confided in my family, I cried for help, but in the end the pain remained. I felt lost, and to this day that pain still lingers. It never truly went away, but for a time I thought that I had found a solution. A man came to me, telling me he had the answer to my problem, telling me that he could make it go away, could make my happiness undiluted.

That man's name was Ozpin.

Three years after that night, that was when Ozpin first came to me. It was New Year's Eve, to be exact. My mother and my sisters had gone to my Grandfather's house for the evening, and had decided that I deserved the night alone. That left me the entire night, from dusk until dawn, to do as I pleased. And, what I pleased was to sit up in my room, oblivious to my own world, and immersed in another one that happened to be locked behind a screen. Nights like that, I thought, made me feel like I was the deepest mother fucker alive, like I had the answers to everything at my fingertips. It's funny, really, that for all the times I felt like that, I never would have thought that the worlds would come back into my own with me.

I had just finished an episode of RWBY, actually, and was about to get up and grab another drink, when I heard a rather loud crash downstairs. My adrenaline kicked in, and before I knew it I was sprinting downstairs, both scared out of my wits, and trying to find the courage to not go back and hide in my room until whatever, or whoever, had broken in was gone.

I rounded the corner of my entry hall, and broke into the kitchen, trying my best not to crash into anything, when I got a look at the intruder. At first glance, it was obviously a hobo, or sleaze of some kind, as his outfit was truly atrocious. Before me, standing at a rather firm posture, was a man above six feet tall, with an ash grey, windswept haircut. He was dressed in some kind of dark green suit, and had a cane in his right hand. His left hand housed a mug, with some kind of symbol I didn't recognize on it. His eyes, though, were what really scared me. The rest of his face looked kind of aged, and sunken from stress, or malnourishment, but his eyes tore into me with a kind of fire that was hard to forget.

But, all observations aside, I reversed paths as fast as I possibly could and made for my room. When I got back up there, I took my hunting knife off of the shelf I normally had it on, and turned around, ready to drive that green pimp out of my house, by any means necessary. But, before I could even take another step, that same green pimp was standing in my doorway, looking at me with the same fire in his eyes as before. Except, now, I had nowhere left to go. I only had one option left.

"Alright, buddy, unless you wanna take your chances with this thing, I would advise getting out. _Now._"

I let the emphasis fall on the last word, trying my hardest to not show my building fear, and trying to put on as much of a show, to try and make him leave. That was the only card in my hand left, and it _had_ to work.

It didn't.

"Well, this is a frightening turn of events, now isn't it? I do hope you will forgive my rather… Forceful entry. You see, this was all required, and there was no other way for me to get to you in time for-"

"No, I don't think you understood me, old man. You're in my house, illegally, I might add, and I really don't give a damn what you need, or how much time you've got. You're on my turf, and unless you have a keen interest in the tip of this here knife, I would suggest you leave. Oh, and I wouldn't take very long in that decision, either. I'm kind of impatient, you see."

I was fairly certain he heard me, but as for what I actually said, I don't think it made a single lick of difference.

"Oh, goodness, I was hoping we could keep things civil, if you don't mind. You live so close to the city, it is only natural that your doors were locked this late at night, and although I was hoping for a more discreet entrance, and I do say, you are quite hard to get alone, I did have to wait for the right moment-"

"HEY! I don't think you're listening to me, are you? You've got one last chance before I gut you. Leave, NOW!"

I took a step towards him, trying one last time to flesh out any doubts in his head about my hesitance to stab him, hoping it would be enough.

"Now, now, put that away. Forgive me for saying so, but your form is so horrible I could mistake you for some kind of motor-inept chef. But, your combat abilities aside, I don't think you really want to hurt me, anyways. After all, by now you must have some idea as to who am, yes?"

I narrowed my eyes in frustration, beginning to lose whatever semblance of composure I had, when a nagging feeling in the back of my head suddenly became apparent. I stared at his figure, trying to piece together whatever my instinct was telling me, but my loud mouth seemed to have other priorities and interrupted my pondering.

"You _really_ must be off your rocker, if you think for a second that I have any idea as to who the fuck you are. Keep talking, and we'll see how far you'll be able to make it down those stairs before this thing ends up in your spine!"

I took another step towards him, flourishing the knife in my hand a little bit, then taking yet another step, closing the distance between us to mere inches. My room wasn't a very big thing, so there couldn't have been more than five feet between us to begin with. Still not moving, the man stayed perfectly composed in the presence of my violent outbreak, watching me with a keen eye, his gaze never leaving me.

Finally, he sighed heavily, lowering his head.

"Well then, since you seem hell-bent on making me into mincemeat, and I am under strict orders to make you see reason, you leave me with no choice."

The man suddenly took a hard expression, and with a motion too swift for me to comprehend struck me in my right side neck with his cane. The impact of the wood on my body didn't exactly hurt, but the shock of the blow drew me down onto the floor in front of him. Once there, I found myself unable to move, completely at his mercy.

He appeared over me, looking down at me, the soft, somewhat pitiful look returning to his eyes.

"Forgive me for the abrupt shock, but I needed to be certain you would hear this."

With that, he turned his back to me, sipping on whatever was in his mug, then turning back around to face me, strewn out on the ground in front of him.

"_I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose...direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."_

With the same swift crack of his cane, I felt my limbs loosen up, and my motion restored. I was caught between a maelstrom of shock and fear, but a hand in front of my face knocked me out of my stupor.

"Come now, Mr. Cortes, surely you know by now who am I am? I've heard that I'm quite popular around these parts."

I let the hand stay in place for a few seconds, taking in the details of the man's face. The calm, almost eager expression, the spectacles, the shaggy grey hair… And the mug. It all fit.

"Holy… Fucking shit. You're Ozpin."

He nodded slightly, keeping his hand extended, waiting to make my acquaintance. How he knew my name was something I was going to have to inquire about, but for now that was the farthest thing from my mind.

"This… This can't be real, can it? I mean…. You're not supposed to exist!"

He looked me in the eyes, shoving his hand a little bit closer to me, smiling now.

"Everything is only as real as you want it to be. Reality is a complicated thing, Mr. Cortes, and especially now you will find to be much more fluid than you've previously come to know."

Finally taking his hand, I ascended from the floor, meeting him face to face for the first time that night. Feeling his hand in my own solidified this experience for me, let me know it wasn't my stressed mind playing tricks on me. He was really here, in front of me, and not trapped behind a screen. Fucking Ozpin was standing here, spewing out worldly bullshit for me.

"Just… Wow, fuck me. Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, is standing here in front of me. Boy, Monty would've been pissing his pants right about now if he could see you here…"

"Yes, the creator loved all of us a great deal, I've come to discover, but that is beside the point. You're taking my presence here awfully well, are you sure you are comprehending all of this?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm just… A little bit in shock still, is all… I mean, motherfucking OZPIN is here, breaking into my house and beating me up, like it's some kind of poorly written Fan Fiction from a frickin weaboo in California, and now you're here asking me if I'm okay, and… I just find that shit to be quite hilarious sir."

"While I would advise you to manage your language, Mr. Cortes, I would also ask you to consider the very reality of what is happening in front of you. I am a Headmaster, as I am sure you remember, and in lieu of my normally busy duties I have spent the last month of my time here, in your world, where my own is considered but the creation of a man by the name of Monty Oum. While this may be the case, we are not limited by this man's creations, and we are as real as any other realm. It has been recently discovered that a link exists between the two of our Universes, albeit a relatively weak one. Now, normally this link is inaccessible to either party, but a team of aetherochemical engineers found a way to strengthen the link, and allow passage between the two. That is how I came to be in this world. But, this link is still fragile, and only will last for a certain time. As such, I only have so much left until I am called back to Remnant."

"Wait, wait, wait… Red flag going up here. Just fill me in on one thing, Headmaster… Why are you even here? It seems like a whole lot of effort to just come for a visit to a depressed fan." I said, shaking my head. It seemed no matter how much I tried to wake up from this crack dream, the more it forced itself down my throat.

Ozpin sighed heavily, turning around, then beckoning me towards the staircase.

"Come, we'll talk downstairs. It would be best if we were both sitting down for this, and quite honestly your room is a bit stifling for this kind of conversation."

I noticed Ozpin pulling on his scarf, and unbuttoning some of his suit, and realized that not everyone would share my adapted heat resistance.

"Oh, forgive me, I forget that not everyone shares my tenacity for heat. Come on, we'll go into the kitchen."

When we were settled in the noticeably cooler kitchen downstairs, Ozpin took another sip out of his mug. I sat directly opposite him, on the corner of the table. I was shaking slightly, and Ozpin seemed to sense my nerves. He placed a hand on my shoulder in a reassuring manner, looking me in the eyes before starting.

"Easy now, nothing to be afraid of. I do think you will appreciate this story. But where to begin..."

"As far back as you can go. I want to hear everything I possibly can."

Ozpin sighed slightly. He did not sip from his mug, or adjust his glasses, two ticks that I had noticed from him so far. Instead, he simply stared at the table in front of him, as if gathering his thoughts was too much of a task for him. After a long pause, he looked me in the eyes again.

"Two years ago, in the winter season, I was standing out on the cliffs of Beacon, facing the emerald forest. It was orientation day for that year's students, and I had sent them on their way. I was partaking of idle chatter with Headmistress Goodwitch when something quite odd caught my eye. Near the bottom of the cliff, there was a man I did not recognize. He was wearing clothes that I had never seen before, and looked to be in serious condition. His limp was distinguishable even from that distance, and he was strewn with blood from head to toe. He did not have an Aura strong enough to withstand even a weak punch... And he was being hunted by a pack of Beowolves."

"Jesus… What the hell was he thinking, going into the forest like that. Was he armed, at least? Some jerkoff trying to prove himself on a dare?"

"No, he was unarmed. He looked more dressed for sleeping than anything, to be correct. One thing was certain about the man, however; His screams told me that he was beyond terror, no… He was worse than terrified. As such, I descended the cliff to aid him. Just as he was cornered on the rock wall, I managed to intervene and eliminate the threat. When I turned back around, the man had no words for me, only incomprehensible muttering. I could pick out only single words, like 'home' and 'where', 'family' came up quite often, as did 'afraid'. He was in no condition to do anything, even stand. In the time that I was near him, he fell into unconsciousness, and I hauled him back to the medical center on campus. I allowed them to perform a full analysis of his state. What we didn't expect was for him to emit radiation."

"What?!"

"Yes, he was as radioactive as a common kilogram sample of unrefined Dust, what your people refer to as Polonium. He was placed into quarantine as soon as this was discovered. He was a mystery, for many reasons. We knew nothing of him, not even a name… He was not registered under any nation's databases, he simply… Didn't exist. He was a John Doe for the next year and a half, all the while his radioactivity continued, his identity a mystery. He was comatose for the entire time, not waking for nearly three hundred days on end. Then… He woke up."

Ozpin's face toughened when he uttered those words, lined with acid and spoken almost regrettably.

"On the second day of the fall season, just this past year, he awakened. At the very moment he did, the radioactivity ceased. In its place… We picked up Epsilon waves, the telltale sign of an Aura. Somehow, he had "grown" an Aura, and was all of a sudden bright eyed and energized… Well, as much as someone in his position could be. Following his awakening, I began to talk to him. His wounds were quite slow to heal, and he had some… Obvious side effects of his treatment from the doctors. He was a mess, physically and mentally-"

"Forgive me, but get to the point. I feel like this is all unnecessary side information."

Ozpin looked my way, grunting in annoyance, but continuing.

"The man, quite frankly, was not of our world. He was of yours. He had an extensive knowledge of myself and many of my students, many of whom he had never met before. He knew my name before I had even began to talk to him, and he seemed to show oddly accurate amounts of knowledge about the runnings of Beacon. I asked where he was from… He said not a place, or a country, but "Earth". He knew he wasn't there anymore. He was not of Remnant, but here."

"Yes, and why does any of this matter to me? While the whole world traveling thing is quite interesting, you could have gone to anyone in the world, the best of scientists, the president, literally anyone. Why me?"

"I asked the man his name. His name… Was Lawrence Cortes."

That name made my blood go cold. I stared at Ozpin, not sure whether to apologize for my rudeness or begin to assault him. That name belonged to my Father.

"Heheh… You know, that's really funny, man… Maaan, to think that you'd go and try to tell me that my father, who has been dead for two years, mind you, not only is alive, even though I saw him lowered into his damn grave, and is currently residing in some kind of fantasy fucking land. Just… Great!"

I stood straight up from my seat, walking right past Ozpin, doing my best not to show the tears forming in my eyes. My loss was bad enough, I didn't need him coming here and flaunting it in my face, treating it like some kind of joke. I knew reality, and I wasn't about to have him come in and make me question it.

"Look, if you're here to do something, just do it and get out. I won't have you sitting here, in my home, making me question something that is the truest fact in the Universe."

"In _this_ Universe, maybe, but not in mine. Don't you see? Lawrence is still alive! He himself sent me here, to find you! But he knew you wouldn't believe me, even if I serve as some kind of familiar character to you. That is why he sent me with this."

I stopped my rage filled pacing behind Ozpin to see what "this" was, to be greeted with a small disc that was projecting a holographic image just above it. It looked some kind of recording, of a man in a hospital bed. Ozpin said nothing, but his eyes spoke to me. They said "Come here, and see for yourself".

And so I went. I stood before him, and watched.

In the video, the man in the bed looked a mess. Bandages all along his right side, his head wrapped in a cotton Turban, but his glasses remained on somehow. The glasses… Were the same design that my dad always wore, even though the lenses were cracked.

"This is rolling, you know" I heard Ozpin, in the video, say to him.

"Eh, shut it, I know. Well… Here we are. I'm… Not quite sure what to say, to be honest. I barely made it here, and now that I am here, I'm not sure if I'm even the same person that I thought I was. But… Here goes nothing."

The man in the video paused, then turned his gaze, which had previously been turned towards the bed in front of him, towards the camera, or whatever Ozpin was using to film this thing.

"Scott... You're watching this. You have to be, or else Ozpin failed and didn't get to you. But… I know you are, and you're watching this because what he said wasn't enough to make you believe. Well, I'm here to make you believe. And I'll do that by saying this; Do you remember, all that time ago, when we took the walk to the baseball field and back? You were in middle school and it was the middle of the summer. You started crying, because you were scared… You knew how old I was, and you were scared that Mom and I were gonna die before you could do anything we would be proud of… And I told you that I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon… But then, that night happened... Look. I know you, and I know that everything I just said to you speaks to your heart. You are a strong, kind, caring person. I know you're strong, and I know that you're hurting. You're my son… And I love you. I know that."

The feed cut there, as his hand went to cover his mouth, silencing the beginning of a choke from him. But, there was simply nothing left to see. I stared into the emptiness the video left for a few moments, processing everything that had just happened. I shook my head, trying to drive off the tears yet again. I felt weak, and spineless. I felt like I didn't belong here, like it was too much to exist in that moment. I walked to the door that led to the yard, and ran out it as quickly as I could. I fumbled my way to the steps, and sat down heavily upon the lowest one. I rocked silently against the loud winter wind that seemed to force me backwards, trying to meld my mind back into a comprehensible shape.

This was all madness, all of it. This had to be some kind of vivid dream, the kind that is so realistic you can't tell the difference. Maybe I was dead, gone to sleep after one too many energy drinks, maybe I was alive, driven insane by my inner demons. Anything seemed to be a better solution to my predicament than going back inside and facing the green monster in my kitchen. I knew he wouldn't come out here, he didn't seem the type to intrude on grievances, but keeping him waiting was the last thing I wanted either. I felt so alone that I could vomit in that moment, as if all my fear would just seep out with the bile.

"I… Just… Fuck… What do I do? I don't know…"

I was helpless, had been helpless. I couldn't even contain my own sorrow, let alone help heal anyone else's. Because of me, Mom was alone and scared, just like me. Karma has a funny way of making you see life in retrospect. But, regardless, it just proved that I was weak. I didn't deserve anything. I was… As alone as a snowflake in the middle of a storm. I wasn't like anyone else, and I didn't feel connected to anything.

As that thought flashed through my mind, the wind suddenly swept me forward, pressing against my back, nearly making me fall over. After composing myself, I looked to the sky, the stars partially blocked by the clouds of the snowstorm. But, just above me, the night sky managed to poke through.

I smiled, in that ironic, self-loathing sort of way. I was so alone, but I realized something that made me feel just a bit safer.

Sure, I was alone, but even when no one else was there, I had the infinite expanse of the Universe watching over me, and the force of the wind at my back. No matter what, I had that.

I closed my eyes, and meditated for a few moments on my rather deep realization. I giggled a little bit as well. I had a habit of taking small coincidences in the world and turning them into rather overbearingly meaningful sayings. But, for whatever the cost, it made me feel better.

Satisfied with my mental state, I stood from the stairs and made my way back inside. There, Ozpin was pacing dutifully behind the counter, turning his head as soon as he heard the door open.

"I… am sorry, Scott. It was wrong of me to push all of this on to you in such a short time. If I was not under pressure, I would have done this very differently. But you must understand that the time is getting closer, and I do not have much more to debate this with you. In just under an hour, my time here will be at an end, regardless of what you want. If you have made a decision, I need to hear it, now."

"I… Ozpin… I'm going."

Ozpin looked at me, right in the eyes, and smiled as wide as I had ever seen him smile. He did not speak, did not move, he just smiled. He continued this for a few awkward moments, leaving me confused and baffled, but eventually he began to move towards me.

"I will not sugar coat this. This is a one way trip, and it will be most likely that you will never return. On top of that, there is a very high risk of… Mutation."

"Come again?"

"There is physical distance we must traverse in order to reach remnant. We are not 100% sure of anything right now, but what we do know is that if the travelers are unprotected, you will be exposed to extreme doses of cosmic rays. We are not sure of the full effect of these rays, and there is no telling what could happen. You must be willing to accept whatever comes out on the other end of this journey."

"I… I'm not sure if I fully understand, but if I think about this any longer, I am likely to lose my nerve. I want to go as soon as possible."

"What of your family? Do you not want to say goodbye?"

"It would be worse if I did. I would be guilted into staying by my conscience. Please, if it is possible, I want to go now."

"... So be it. Come, then, take my hand. Place both of yours atop my cane. Make sure your grip is firm. Your life my depend on it. Before I go, you must know this; The journey is unique every time. It could take a minute, or a day, or a year, and you will not know how long has passed. But whatever you do, _do not let go of me_, do you understand?"

I nodded, moving over next to him. I did as he told me, and placed my hands over his, the hand which gripped his cane. The instant I did, I felt a chill go up my spine.

"Easy, now. The Beacon has just locked in on our signal. In a few moments, the device that keeps me rooted here will deactivate, and we will be pulled back to Remnant. Tricky technology, very prototypical, but it still works. Just hold on…"

I breathed nervously as we stood there, waiting for something to happen. What it was supposed to be, I did not know. He was being very cryptic about all of this, maybe to keep me calm, but I felt it having the opposite effect.

Soon enough, I felt a certain charge in the air that made my hairs stand on end.

"There it is. The device is off. It will be only seconds now."

I closed my eyes, and reaffirmed my grip on Ozpin.

"Ten… Nine…. Eight…. Seven…."

He whispered to me a countdown. With every number that he uttered, by heart rate rose. Aside from my internal stress, I became eerily aware of my surroundings, even with my eyes closed. It was if the energy around me was feeding into my senses…

"Six… Five… Four… Three…"

My muscles were starting to tense up, twitch even. Ozpin's grip beneath mine tightened suddenly, and his free hand came around my waist.

"Two… One…Go."

That one, little word changed my life…It also put me in the most agonizing pain of my life.

* * *

**_Well, hello there! Me name is Hanji, and I'm the writer of this little tale you've stumbled on. I'm always up for tips and suggestions, so feel free to tell me something if you want to see it happen! I hope to make this a very detailed and exploratory story, and if you'll humble me and keep reading, I'd forever be grateful. See you on the flip side. ^_^_**

**_Cheers, Mates!_**


	2. Chapter 1

Today would not have been a worse day even if I had to imagine it.

For one thing, being flown through a rift in the Universe was less surreal than you would expect. Some of the most extreme temperature changes I have ever felt and enough noise to make your ears bleed… profusely. By the first hour I had no idea how I wasn't dead yet, but all I could do was follow Ozpin's instructions to the letter and hope that wouldn't happen. I could still feel his hand underneath mine, so I focused as much as I could on that. I assumed that Ozpin was doing a little better than me, with his aura to protect him, but I couldn't figure out if he was feeling it the same way I was.

This went on for what felt like hours, maybe even a day or so. At one point, I lost my hearing altogether, and started getting numb around my lower body. I attempted to distract myself with some kind of mental tick, but whenever I tried to escape from the maelstrom of nothingness around me it simply pulled me back like a magnet. It was like the vast body of space was calling me toward it, wishing for me to be a part of it, body and mind. I would not listen to it, for I had a mission to complete, and Ozpin would not forgive me if I failed. While nothing physically touched me (to my knowledge) there was always a feeling of some kind of push coming from my head. It was something, or maybe nothing, pulling my head around and whipping it to and thro.

But in the end, I won.

After the eternity of nothing, I felt something solid hit my knees, the impact making them buckle. I went down towards the ground, still grabbing the cane, still closing my eyes, searching for something to verify what was going on. Something grabbed my hands, ripping them off of the cane, and throwing me onto the floor…

Wait, floor? When was there a floor? I don't remember there being anything solid under my feet until now…

*SLAM*

Forget the floor, there was now something sitting on top of me. I tried to lean forward, but that same something, like a rock, flew into my chest and pushed me back into the phantom floor beneath me. I wasn't quite sure what the hell was going on now, but all I could do was lay there, not hearing or seeing anything. I just hoped that I hadn't let go too early, and lost Ozpin on the way there. Maybe it was some space demon trying to kill me right now. Maybe I was just being prepared to be killed…

"Please… Don't hurt me. I want live, don't kill me!"

I doubt they understood English, but I had to try something. I wasn't about to just sit there and die without giving it a go first. Besides, even if I hadn't been able to hear the response, I guess they understood me. The weight on my body lifted itself, and I heaved a great breath of relief.

However, my ordeal was not over yet, as someone (or something) was slapping me silly, pulling me up by my collar. Well, seems like I got the bully demons, instead of the nice, tea party demons… Except the bully demons were trying to pry my eyelids open, pulling them apart despite my efforts to keep them closed.

Some of my hearing was coming back now, surprising me with the sudden cry of sound that invaded my silence.

"Please… We just want to help you. But we can't... If you don't…OPEN YOUR EYES!"

Holy hell, I was not only alive, but in the presence of a person! It was my lucky day. This meant that I had made it safely to Remnant, and the person currently beating the shit out of me wasn't some space demon hell-bent on raping my soul!

"Where… Where is the Professor? Where's Ozpin?" All I could muster was that little sentence, my vocal chords not fully able to function after the full-body trauma that had come beforehand.

"Have no fear, my friend, I'm right here. Although, in your current position you might want to open your eyes. We have arrived safely, but if you do not do something I fear Miss Xiao Long will blast you into pieces before you will be able to stand up."

I decided to trust his words and try my luck. After all, I was already here; nothing else could really go worse, right?

I slowly opened my eyes, only to be greeted by the flaming face of Yang Xiao Long, looking as though I had just punted a puppy across the schoolyard. There was clearly an element of hostility in her eyes as I stared into them, slowly coming to understand my situation.

Maybe I should say something so she doesn't want to punch me into Oblivion?

"Ummm… Hi?"

"Hi?! After making our room explode and barging in with a death grip on Ozpin, all you can say is HI?!"

She raised her available fist into the air, ready to slam down onto my head, and I instinctively raised my arms to block her, hoping, in vain of course, to negate some of the damage. What I hadn't expected, however, was a web of light to appear above my arms and completely block her smiting blow. After Yang had calmed down, she too looked in confused awe as the glyph above me faded into dust.

I head someone behind me clear their throat and, with some sympathetic undertones, whisper into my ear, "You can thank me later."

Weiss. She was the only one capable of producing those glyphs, and I certainly didn't bring them up. At least someone wasn't trying to kill me, for the meantime.

I took advantage of silence between subjects to examine the room I was currently in. It was small, about the size of my parents' room back home, but enough for a few people to live comfortably in. There were two horribly constructed bunk beds on either side of me, and a varying degree of posters adorning the walls. Behind me was a bookshelf, and directly above was an extremely frustrated Yang. Given the fact that two of the team members were here, I had to assume that we had crossed dimensions and landed in team RWBY's dorm room.

"Step one, can you please let go of me? I realize you must kind of, oh I don't know, want to kill me or something, but can that wait until a little bit later please?"

I just now noticed something off about myself. There was something horribly wrong with my voice. I don't remember it being so high, although, my hearing might not have been entirely returned, so I ignored it for the time being.

"Miss Xiao Long, I would also advise you to drop my charge. He is under my care, and he will mean you no harm, I assure you. I will discuss this with you later."

Yang simply closed her eyes and heaved a great sigh, extinguishing her flames and dropping me to the ground.

"Uh, sorry about that. We weren't exactly prepared for someone to… well, Teleport in our room with such a big explosion, so I kind of got a bit carried away with the disaster response…" I looked up at her, seeing her slightly blush, then slowly turn away and walk towards Ozpin on the other side of the room.

Now that took another look around, I noticed what she had meant by "explosion". There was a ring of blast marks where I was laying down, and the legs of the bunks nearby were heavily cracked. There were some little fires dotted around the room as well. It seems we caused quite a bit of collateral damage. I wonder if it was the same way when Ozpin materialized on earth. Either way, I was getting tired just thinking about it.

"Professor…. Is it perfectly alright if I just lay here a little bit and get my bearings? I don't feel too hot after that whole mess…" More precisely, I felt as though I was being fed through an easy bake oven head first.

"Take you time, there is no rush. The experience you just lived through was traumatic, at the very minimum, and I would not expect you to be up and about so quickly."

I managed as much of a nod a possible with my current strength, and then, as my eyes fluttered closed, whispered, "You're damn right it was traumatic."

* * *

The next time I came to, I was lying down in a Hospital bed, similar to the one I had seen in Dad's video. There was a simple lamp on the shelf next to me, illuminating part of the room, and contrasting the darkness outside of my window.

I tried to sit up, but it seemed I had no more strength that I did earlier, and simply slid back down onto my pillow, unable to remain upright. The IV in my arm slapped against my bed rail as I slammed backwards, and I felt bandages wrapped around my head, keeping a patch over my left eye in place.

I did not remember anything being wrong with my eye when we landed in the dorms, so I was curious as to why it was currently in a bandage. My other eye functioned normally, much to my relief. Being without eyesight would certainly been annoying.

I tested all of my limbs, looking for capability of moving with probing twitches and little movements, looking for signs of life. As far as I could tell, my feet were moving, but I could not feel anything beneath my stomach yet, likely a lingering effect from the numbness of the rift tunnel. My other limbs moved accordingly, reassuring myself of the fact that I did not appear to be paralyzed in any capacity. However I was too weak to move around very much, I could only wiggle my appendages slightly.

Instead of trying to get up, I took advantage of the quiet in the room and the lack of chaos to gather my thoughts, and possibly assess my situation more completely than I could have earlier.

Right now, I was likely in the hospital wing of Beacon, placed there by Ozpin or Yang, possibly Weiss. I hadn't seen Blake or Ruby in the room when I was in there, so I could assume they did not know about me yet. How much time had passed since I passed out, I could not say.

I was safely transported to Remnant, without anything major happening to me along the way… Hopefully. I would check out if anything happened to my body later when I was able to move around. I had a feeling I would need a mirror after coming out of something like that alive. Nothing that severe would fail to leave a mark on me. I would also need to ask Ozpin, when that bum decided to come around, where my Dad was. That was, of course, the whole point of me coming here in the first place.

There also existed, as I remembered Ozpin saying, a chance of mental addition or subtraction. I needed to mentally scan around and see if anything was added or removed from before I made the jump. I had a feeling this was going to take longer than I wanted to. But, I did have the whole night to sit and contemplate, so I figured that I might as well.

"Well, time to go to work."

So I rested my eyes, and I remembered.

* * *

When I was done taking mental inventory, it seemed that Space travel had added quite a few things to my knowledge.

Suddenly, I had an extended knowledge of knitting, had a vague memory of my sister kidnapping her ex-boyfriend that I didn't have before, and suddenly could play Tenor Saxophone, among other trivial things. The last one on the list I would need to take for a test run when I got the chance.

Curiously, I also had a mean craving for some type of meat. Any kind really. Maybe I just needed some protein to recuperate properly. I doubted they were able to provide me with any through an IV.

However, I had lost something in exchange for all of my fruitless gains. No matter how hard I tried, I could not remember the names of all of my favorite games back home. This was a little sad to me, knowing that I would not be able to reminisce about my favorite memories without feeling a loss of a name.

But, at least I had not forgotten something incredibly important, like the names of my sisters or something like that. It was kind of exciting to suddenly have knowledge of something you were clueless about before. It was, however, a completely different story forgetting something important.

"Yeah, their names are… Well Fuck me. This is going to suck more than I expected. When they get here they are going to _kill_ me."

I probably said that much louder than I needed to, as I heard the door open from the other end of the room, although a curtain blocked my view of the door itself.

I heard someone whisper from the doorway, sounding very much like Ozpin giving an order not to be disturbed. I was surprised I was able to hear so well, since the room was very large and his voice was very soft, almost inaudible. Maybe he was losing his edge after the travel himself. I couldn't imagine him being untouched himself. His aura was not dedicated to his protection on the return trip, instead being used to carry me with him. I then realized the personal risk he had taken to bring me here.

I heard a cane moving towards me, and soon the curtain flew open with the same badly dressed Headmaster from earlier standing there with his cup of coffee in hand.

"I'm glad to see you have recovered so quickly. I myself took a day or two to mend a few bruised ribs after that ordeal. If I had to have guessed when we arrived how long you would be out, I would have told you that by this time next week you would have been unconscious still. It seems that your body is well adapted for such heavy stress. This bodes well for your future here. You will need that tenacity later down the line."

"Tell me," I asked, "How long was I unconscious for?"

"Four days… Nearly five days now."

Ozpin didn't seem to be looking directly at me, instead looking _around_ me, like he was observing me instead of conversing with someone. After a moment he shook his head and looked into my eyes once more.

"You had me worried you know. I wasn't expecting you to collapse in team RWBY's room the way you did. If Miss Schnee had not calmed me down, I would have panicked and likely botched something bringing you here. I was fearful for your life.

I raised my eyebrow at this statement. "Seriously, you of all people panicking? You grow more unbelievable by the hour. After being caught in a raging vacuum for such a long time you start to get tired, I just wanted to sleep by the time we landed here. You had nothing to worry about, except maybe Yang destroying my pretty face."

"Well, I had not previously informed them that their dorm was our retuning point, so her overly zealous reaction was entirely my fault. I hope you do not blame her, she is a very caring individual, and a bit passionately unmoving at times."

"Don't worry about it. I know how she works, and I know she meant to simply help me, but got carried away. I don't get offended very easily, so I think I can let that pass. Not to mention I was not the most appealing in my choice of words either. I'll have to apologize to her later for embarrassing her."

He nodded at my answer, and took a sip of his coffee.

"I am glad you can be so forgiving in that kind of situation. That is good to know. You will need a high amount of tolerance if you want to survive at Beacon. Take a good look at me, I've been here for years and I have more tolerance than anyone, even Glynda."

"Yeah, but you are also a Sadist, so I doubt that you need to explain to me the need for tolerance when you can simply assign someone you do not enjoy some extra homework."

"Well… Ah drat, you've caught me. I will admit that setting people up with a little something more than they expected is a little hobby of mine. I can see your understanding of the people here does not end with my students."

"But of course it doesn't. Someone who was in such a sweet love with Remnant as me wouldn't be caught without knowing all of the characters, heart and soul. There were vast archives with full analyses of your personalities and thought processes, and I had nearly memorized them."

"While I will recognize that you are admirably dedicated to your field of study, I would not flaunt such knowledge willingly in this world. As far as anyone else is concerned, you have met everyone here for the first time and know nothing about them, not even their names. I stress that you must not allow them to catch onto the fact that you know more about them than they have willingly told you. They may take you for a stalker, and I fear that would severely limit your social opportunities."

"But of course, I understand my situation in this world, and I will not do anything to undermine its integrity with otherworldly knowledge. I'm in the world of my dreams, and I don't plan to waste my opportunities here."

He turned his back on me as I finished, and looked out the window, seemingly lost in thought for a while, until he broke the silence about a minute later, if only slightly.

"He said you were the brightest. I'm glad to see he doesn't boast lightly…"

There it was again. Ozpin thought he was being quiet, yet I was able to hear him perfectly, even though my bandages were placed over my ears. The rift had damaged him more than I had presumed. He wouldn't be so careless otherwise.

"Who told you that? I've only ever heard that once before, and I am curious who told you such a thing." I already knew that it was Dad who told him that. He told my uncle the same thing a few weeks before he left earth. He, in turn, told me how he felt last year. I simply wanted to test Ozpin's reactions to his own weaknesses. It was one of the things I really had no clue about when it came to his mental process, and I was eager to gather information.

He then turned his head towards mine, with a puzzled expression on his face, and a set of eyes that spoke of equal parts concern and curiosity.

"You hearing has been augmented. Back on earth you would not have been able to hear me say something so quietly. But here, even with thick gauze covering your ears you could make out a whisper. You have gained nearly inhuman senses… Wait a minute."

He quickly advanced towards me from his position near the window, until he was standing over me, with a rather stern look on his face, considering he was, a moment ago, serene and quiet.

"Would you permit me to remove your bandages? There is something that I must confirm."

"So you are not willing to recognize that you were simply loud enough for me to hear, despite your assumptions that you were whispering? The trip must have affected you more than I could imagine Professor."

He shook his head, "Do not take my inquiry for ignorance. I am perfectly aware of how much volume my voice had. It would not have been humanly possible for you to perceive my words. Therefore, it is my prerogative to inspect your body for any other dramatic changed that could have accompanied this development of your hearing."

"So… If it wasn't humanly possible, what could make it possible?" I was beginning to get a little nervous now. He was making it out to sound like I had changed into a whole new person.

"That is what I plan to inspect. Now, will you permit me or not? For your sake, I seek the answer to this question."

Uneasily, I nodded for him to remove my bandages. He cut the upper layer away with some scissors that were on a nearby tray, and began to unravel them tenderly. It took quite a while to remove the turban of gauze that was around my head, and my head felt much lighter as the process went on. When the last of the wrapping was removed, a piece of sterile bandage fell from my forehead, stained with blood. I guess I had hit my head a little hard after Yang dropped me. Not only had that, but the patch on my eye had fallen off as well. Now that I could see out of both eyes, I noticed something peculiar. Some areas of the room appeared significantly brighter than others. When I closed my right eye, this blotted effect receded, and the room simply looked lighter in general.

"Tell me; are you capable of seeing out of your left eye? Is there any discomfort, or pain? Any kind of odd feeling whatsoever?" It was Ozpin that spoke first after my initial experimentation with my vision was over.

I shook my head. "Nothing is different, except for one thing. When I only use one eye, the darker spots of the room look much brighter than before. When I use both eyes, the effect dies down and some areas are blotted dark and light. What does that mean?"

"It means," he said in a rather heavy tone, "that you have just been granted Night Vision."

"Whoa. Well, it certainly isn't every day you can see in that dark is it? I will say that this is a bit odd to get used to. I'll need to adjust to it. I also get the feeling that my extra sensitive hearing will be both a boon and an annoyance as well."

"Well, I'm afraid that there are some… minor things that you will need to get used to as well. I will get a mirror so you can see for yourself." He stood up and went to the bathroom, calmly and slowly like his entrance.

"What, am I ugly now? Come on, don't be shy I can take it! Tell me; is my smile still atrocious at least? I rather enjoyed not having to show my teeth when taking a photo."

He ignored my prodding, and he returned a moment later with a square hand mirror, facing it towards himself.

"Are you ready for this? It will be, I think, a little bit of a shock for you, unless you have already guessed the change yourself."

I paused before answering, taking a mental note of everything that had shifted and morphed. "Honestly, the only thing I know has changed is my voice, my hearing, and my eye. Other than that I haven't really noticed anything major. Although, I will say my lower half is still a bit numb… Should I be worried about that?"

"Well, if they were numb during the journey, I would not be worried. The feeling will return in time. To be honest, my legs still don't feel all the way correct yet either."

"Well, alrighty then. Now I just need to see these 'Minor Details' you were talking about. Show the new me, I am ready."

Ozpin handed me the mirror, this time facing myself. In the mirror was something quite… exotic.

I saw someone with grey Wolf ears protruding from their head. I saw someone with thick, grey hair coming to their neck. Their features were very feminine, with long eyelashes. Their teeth were somewhat pointed, and their features very smooth. One of their eyes was a dark brown, but the other was a bright yellow, almost like a banana. Looking further down, was something _very_ curious. I saw someone with about C cup breasts peeking out from their hospital robe. Don't ask me how I knew that, aside from having three women in the house.

_The person I saw was me. I had become a Faunus. A __**Female **__Faunus_.

I took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the new image faced in front of me, and then raised my hand slowly up to my head. When my fingers touched the pointed ears, they flinched a little at the stimulus of my touch. I felt something on my head move, and I knew it was the real thing. I didn't even care that I could suddenly move my arms again.

"…Well, as much as I would like to assume this was an elaborately constructed prank, the fact that I have enhanced hearing and night partial night vision really takes a shit on my hopes. I suppose my sudden craving for meat would be answered as well. Wouldn't you agree Professor?" I put on as much of a smile as I could muster after that, seeking to look confident; somewhat anyway.

He seemed a little shocked at my cool reaction, remaining silent for a moment before returning from his thoughts.

"This… Doesn't affect you at all? The fact that you are not only female, but Faunus as well has no significant impact on you whatsoever? I am amazed. A normal man would be screaming and crying in the corner by now, but you remain quiet, and if I do say myself, looking a little pleased."

"That's my secret Professor. I'm no ordinary man. Not anymore at least. Although this change is a little dramatic, I find it rather lucky that this particular change was brought upon me, and no something more grotesque. In that capacity, I believe I have more to celebrate than to mourn. Sure, I will miss having, you know, male parts and all; I could very well have ended up with something that would change my everyday life. Like, oh I don't know a big tail or something!"

At this juncture, I heard some rustling underneath my sheets, and something towards my lower region began to twitch.

"Oh Hell… Why does this always happen to me? Me and my big mouth…"

"I believe this is what they call 'Be careful what you wish for.'"

Sure enough, a grey, fluffy tail erupted from the left side of my sheets. My eyes widened as I saw it wag from side to side, and felt something rather uncomfortable press near my lower back.

"Okay, are we sure this isn't some kind of shitty novel? I'm some kind of fluffy wolf-girl for fucks sake. Ozpin, please tell me that I am sane, and not just high off of my meds right now?"

I turned to face him, and saw him covering his mouth while convulsing, obviously cracking up from the spectacle.

"Oh yeah, real mature Ozpin, laugh at the sad little wolf girl who just was made into some kind of plush hug-me toy, I love it!"

"Wolf girl or not, I wouldn't call you little. It seems you retained your height from before."

I looked down, and noticed his observation was factual. I was generally as tall as I had been before my transformation. Great, now I was a _tall_ hug-me toy. This just kept getting better.

After finishing his round of giggles, he recomposed himself and resumed his observations of my body.

"This is a rather curious situation indeed. When we first arrived, only small signs of change were visible. I noticed your voice was much higher than usual when you spoke, and your hair had already started to grey over. Other than that, I was not able to tell much difference. That means these changes were gradual, over the time you spent in this room. I am surprised none of the staff was able to notice them either… Ah, we have been using odd shifts here due to over-employment, so I doubt you were never treated by any one nurse more than once. The only reason you had a patch over your eye was the fact that is was changing color so rapidly. We believed it to be an infection of some kind."

Ozpin hung his head low, and mumbled under his breath. "I wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to blame me for dragging you here. I had no clue the changes would be this drastic…"

"Hold it. Just because I complain now doesn't mean I regret my decision. You said something like this could and would happen, so I hold no regrets. No matter what, I am proud of the decision I made. You are not to blame either. Whatever happens to me is nothing of your own will. Although I share your curiosity, as I too did not expect the changes to be gradual either. I reckon that they are not finished either. I should stay here for a while more to see if anything changes over time."

He nodded with a smile, obviously pleased with my understanding of the situation.

"I am glad you are willing to be cautious about this. I recommend another week in bed, simply to be safe. Keep a log of anything else that appears, and let me know. After the week is over, we will decide on a course of action for you to take. For now, get some sleep. I imagine it has been a long night, and I do not want to keep you any longer."

"Yeah, I am beat. All this excitement has me exhausted. It wasn't like I had much energy to begin with; I could barely sit up when I came to."

"Well whatever the case, you are safe, and however changed you may be, you still hold a place of importance in this building. If anything goes awry, contact me and I will settle it… Ah, forgive me, you have no way to do that yet do you?"

He rummaged around in his pockets until he found the grey tube he was looking for.

"Here, this should allow you to facilitate communications with all of the staff, including me, personally. Although use this feature sparingly, as not all of the staff are as accommodating as I when it comes to personal visits."

"Does it have access to the global networks?"

"Why of course, it _is_ the latest model. I had just picked it up today, in fact."

"Excellent. I will use that to my advantage. Thank you Professor, for everything you have done."

He turned to leave, and looked over his shoulder, smirking.

"Do not thank me. There is much more to do before you can thank me."

With that he strolled out of the room, leaving me with my thoughts and a new body to keep me occupied.

"Whatever that means. I'll get everything sorted out tomorrow. For now, I think it is high time that I slept. I fell that tomorrow will be a rather momentous day indeed. I need to figure out what the hell to do with this thing…" I batted my tail to the side as I felt it, my newly appeared fur tingling at the contact.

I leaned over onto the table, switched off the lamp, and close my eyes. I ran my hand along my tail a little before thinking to myself,

"_I'd say that life just got a lot more interesting."_

* * *

**_Now we get to the really good stuff. A lot of passing out, exhaustion, and surprise in this chapter. From here on out, the chapters will be more forward, and progress the story at a faster pace. Again, any question, feel free to PM and I will answer them in the end of the next chapter. See ya next time!_**


	3. Chapter 2

The next morning, I was woken by a nurse refilling my saline bag, with the early day sun peeking out from the windows, and a slight chill filling the air. I figured I could no longer pass for brain-dead, so I obliged to voice my newfound consciousness.

"Well, morning ma'am. How do I look so far?"

She responded with a frightened yelp, and took a minute to catch her breath after nearly tearing down the curtain next to her.

"They told me you were supposed to be comatose. When did you wake up?! I need to call a doctor right now!"

Before I had a chance to tell her I was alright, she sprinted out of the room and screamed for a doctor all down the hall. In less than a minute, a full squad of personnel surrounded my bed, all asking questions regarding my condition and taking readings from the machines nearby. They persisted for about ten minutes like this, before they saw that I was in good enough condition for them not to panic. Afterwards, the remaining doctor, who I recognized as the one Ozpin had spoken to last night, informed me that I would need another week under observation before being released. I could assume that was Ozpin's directive, as he had told me that before leaving the previous night.

That left me with a rather large amount of time to simply sit and do nothing. In the end, I decided on mostly daydreaming the hours away, jumping between topics in my mental discussion and sitting there, only partially lucid while I waited for my sentence to be over. It wasn't until the fifth day that I remembered that I had been given a scroll by Ozpin. I quickly pulled it out, and looked around the cylinder for some kind of power button. Now that it was in my hand, and I could look it over, I was now completely confused as to how it would work. I had to ask the nurse how to operate it when she arrived.

"What kind of backwater town did you come from? Everyone knows how to use these things! Even little kids have them. Here, let me see that." I handed her the scroll, and she deftly tapped the side of it, revealing a small tray, where she pulled out a piece of metal about one foot from the tube, and a holographic screen became visible in the gap between the two pieces.

"There you go. Do you need anything else, or can you handle the rest hun?"

"Yes, I will be fine. Believe it or not, I was quite a tech fanatic back home. I'm just unfamiliar with this model is all."

She regarded me with a doubtful look, and quickly finished her duties. She left me alone with my new toy, and I soon discovered something rather exciting.

The operating system that this scroll was strikingly similar to the one I had used at home. It shared some similarities with the Windows platform, but other things were curiously like that of a Mac. It was almost like a fusion between the two. While this made it much easier to familiarize myself with its functions, I still marveled over the fact that it was so close to home, in a sense. The lack of a physical screen was the main thing that I was forced to adjust to. I was so used to having something solid to touch that having my hand go through the screen when I made contact with it was quite annoying.

My scroll soon consumed much of my remaining time at the Hospital. I spent nearly every moment I could personalizing it and discovering new features. The scroll told me that it powered itself through a nuclear cell implanted in the lower part of the cylinder. While I worried about the health risks this imposed, it informed me that it was surrounded by a thickly made lead layer, so I would not feel any adverse effects from radiation. In the end, the nearly infinite charge it offered proved useful to me, as I was nearly always using it in some capacity. Having to worry about battery capacity would have been frustrating.

When I began, one of the first things I looked at was the date and time. It would have been ignorant to continue to go about my life without knowing the time of the year. It told me that I was currently in the third week of January. The days of the week were the same, with the current day being Thursday. That would mean that I would be discharged by Saturday, with any luck. With my newfound perception of time came more perception of my body as well. It had been gradually relaxing over the week, the last major change being my eye. The right side now matched the left, leaving both of my eyes the same yellow-gold color.

I then remembered that Ozpin wanted me to call him at some point. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had given up hope that I ever would.

"Well, it is after school hours, might as well try to call him now, see if he was serious about this whole instant contact thing."

It was nearly 4 in the afternoon, and I did not expect Ozpin to still be caught up in the daily activities of the students.

I looked through the built in contacts, until Ozpin's profile came up on the display. I entered in the command to call him, and, much to my surprise, he instantly was on my screen.

"Well, I was wondering how long it would take you to try this feature out. I've been waiting for the majority of the week for some kind of contact to come through. I was mildly surprised that it took you so long to familiarize yourself with the scroll. Your technological enthusiasm was well spoken for."

"I only just began with this thing yesterday. I kind of forgot about it for a few days, since the doctors were all over me at first. I didn't even get solid food until Tuesday."

"See, at least they have some kind of concern regarding your health. I do not think eating a twenty ounce steak right after waking up would have been very good for you."

"So you agree with them starving me for half of a week and only feeding me flavored pastes? I'd like to see you try those, and tell me how they are. Besides, it's not like I have these things for nothing!" I opened my mouth and showed him my new set of teeth, with sharpened points, all the more easily to eat my meat with.

"Take your time now. It is only a matter of time before you will be out of there, and can experience all the meat Remnant has to offer. Simply bide your time, and wait for the right moment."

"And by that, I hope you mean wait until you offer to take me to dinner! I know you would just _love_ to go out with someone like me on your arm!" Maybe if I cornered him enough, he would cave into giving me a free meal. It doesn't hurt to try and milk my new appearance a little.

Ozpin took a double take at me, and paled a little bit. He seemed to be doing some kind of internal battle with himself.

"I… fear that would be borderline pedophilia. Sure, having someone such as yourself escort me _would_ be quite an experience, I'm afraid the local gossipers would be on our cases for more than a year, and I am quite sure neither of us would enjoy that."

"*sigh*... Everyone's a critic, my dear Professor. Well, if you ever change your mind, let me know. But, for now I will let you get back to… whatever it was you were doing."

"The mountain of papers that never end, I fear. Be well; I will talk with you when you are discharged. Until then, try to get some sleep, you look terrible." With that, he ended the connection. I looked into the mirror Ozpin had left me, and inspected my personal appearance.

My eyes were very bloodshot from all the time spent looking at my scroll, and my hair was messy and greasy. I looked very well like I had just exited some kind of drug party. It had just occurred to me that I had not showered since I got here, either.

"Sheesh, no wonder she thought I was from the boondocks, I look atrocious. Well, high time I got civilized, I think."

I threw the sheets off of myself, and wandered over to the bathroom, where the large, bleached showers were situated. I was glad I no longer had an IV in my arm, as it offered me a lot more freedom, especially when it came to the bathroom.

I turned on the water, and allowed it to run for a while in order to pick up some heat. In the meantime, I stripped out of my flimsy gown, and looked at my full form in the mirror for the first time. All that served to do was solidify the fact that I was a girl now. I had been mostly ignoring that reality until now, since it really only affected going to the bathroom. My first time using my new… _parts_ had been a bit traumatic for me, but by now I felt I had the hang of it. Now, with a full frontal view of my body, it finally sunk in all of the way.

My curves were subtle, not profound like that of a model, but not at all nonexistent either. My skin was on the pale side, likely due to the fact that I had been cooped up inside for the entirety of a week. Not much sunlight had been coming in either. My legs were slim and long, much like they had been before, minus the hair. The only area I really had any difficulty sizing up was my chest.

My sisters were the ones who were really concerned with that sort of thing, but I never paid them much attention, so I had no clue what the quality of my rack was. I was familiar with the sizing system, but was unsure what mine fell into. From what my memory told me, they were similar to Blake's, possibly more like Ruby. Either way, they were there, and added an unfamiliar weight to my chest. Although my center of gravity had shifted to my hips, the extra weight was still easily noticeable.

My tail was another addition that I had yet to fully inspect. When I turned around, I saw that when it was limp, it extended from the very lower region of my back, just above my butt crack, to my knees. The fur on it was a slate grey, with blotted areas of white here and there. When I moved it around, as I had been practicing, it flexed quite well, free from the confines of the robe and the blankets. At the very least, it was light, and flexible, able to bend into a right angle. It would not affect my daily motion, and felt mostly like a purely aesthetic thing.

Aside from the obvious features, I noticed that the Acne on my back had remained, now a bit more accentuated from the change in color on my skin. However the acne on my forehead had all but disappeared. I was grateful, for now I could focus on keeping my back clean instead of having to worry about my face as well. Not to mention that Acne really hurts like hell.

I was grateful that I was permitted to be in my room alone, because had someone needed to use the bathroom, they would have been very displeased with me at the time. The water was already lukewarm when I finally entered, cutting my time in the shower short, and only permitting me to wash my hair. This alone took a good ten minutes, since it was so thick and so filthy. I didn't even have time to clean my tail, and hung neglected and wet after I had stepped out.

"Note to self; if I want to grow out my hair, thin it first. I sure as hell am not doing this for hair that goes to my waist."

After my first shower as a member of the fairer sex, I had a totally new respect for hair care practices. I couldn't even comprehend how Yang was able to manage that glorious mane she maintained. Even Weiss and Blake had quite a bit of hair to deal with. Ruby was really the only one who had short hair that she could think of, save for Nora. After all, the three of us looked quite fine with short hair, and after this, I saw no reason to grow it out, especially now, since I had a tail full of thick fur to clean as well.

When my hair was finally dry, I attempted to brush it, but even that proved to be a challenge. The sheer density of hair on my head nearly consumed the bristles with every stroke I took.

"Ok, enough of that." I shook out my hair, choosing instead to opt into the "messy" look, in lou of ripping out my hair with a brush. When I patted it down and sculpted the fur on my head into some semblance of hair, I was quite pleased. It gave me a good style, and at a fraction of the effort that brushing could provide. Instead of using it to brush my hair, I used to it straighten out my tail a little, giving it a good brushing. The fur there was more cooperating than my head, and I was able to groom it properly without leaving myself devoid of hair.

When I was re-buttoning my gown, I became incredibly aware of the horrid odor coming from my mouth. I guess I hadn't brushed my teeth in a while either. I looked around for a toothbrush, and while I was searching a grey bag with a sticky note caught my eye. I walked over to the small table in the corner of the bathroom, and saw what looked like a commodity bag. The note read,

"_I figured you would need some help in the hygiene department. I took the liberty to get you some things that would hold you until we could find something more permanent."_

_Ozpin_

Well, he at least thought to give me a toothbrush. I rummaged through the bag, taking a total of all the items inside. He had supplied me some shampoos, toothpaste and a toothbrush, a bar of soap, and deodorant. It would suffice, until I was out of the Hospital.

I set to work brushing my teeth, eager to rid myself of this stench that permeated my mouth. I now realized how blissful not being able to smell my own breath had been.

When I was brushing, I remembered something as well. At home, I had to use a retainer every night in order to keep my teeth from moving around. If I did not use it for a night or two, my mouth ached until I used it again. Here, it was a different story. My teeth had been perfectly fine, and I had been without my retainer for a week. That took away one hassle from my daily life, at least. Although, now I would need to be extremely careful about my hygiene, especially if I could smell the slightest bit of odor.

I walked out of the bathroom in my Hospital gown; mentally perplexed form all of the new realities I had to absorb.

"Well, today has certainly been an experience in feminine hygiene. Never before have I had such respect for my sisters."

An unexpected voice cooed from the corner, slyly smiling and rising from her seat.

"You know, it only gets worse as time goes on. Pretty soon you'll have to worry about makeup too."

I quickly swiveled my head, in a state of alert at the sound of someone invading my room unexpectedly. When I saw who was there, however, I dropped my guard, and turned to face her.

"My dear Yang, you have no idea how wrong you are. Who needs makeup? I'm naturally glamorous, why ruin it with makeup?"

The Yellow menace before me walked towards me, placing a hand on my shoulder, weighted down by her golden gauntlets hanging on the wrists.

"Because, silly, even people like us have bad days, and it never hurts to add a bit more to an already good picture. Call it… Insurance, if you want to. Also, since you know my name, it's safe to assume Ozpin has been here to talk with you."

"Almost as soon as I woke up. He filled me in on a lot of things, you and your team were one of them. Now, are you here to give me beauty advice or are you just here to make sure you didn't traumatize me?"

She removed her hand form my shoulder and sat in the chair next to my bed.

"If you can believe it, both. Come on, lay down, we have a lot to talk about."

I shrugged my shoulders, and complied with her request. I laid out on the bed net to her, getting comfortable for what I felt would be a very long conversation.

"First things first, Ozpin told us mostly everything regarding what happened when you, well, blew up our room."

She turned away from me, and spoke instead to the window.

"And by 'Ozpin told us everything' I really mean in a blind fury I grabbed him by the collar and threatened to remove his coffee mug hand unless he explained what was going on…"

I raised an eyebrow, unknowingly to her, and simply sighed and lowered my head. "Yang, one of these days that temper of yours will get you into some serious trouble. You can't exactly beat up the Headmaster, y'know. That kind of looks bad on transcripts." I leaned towards her, and put on my best sympathetic look, attempting to console her. She looked really depressed; probably embarrassed that she had nearly killed her Headmaster over something so stupid.

"To be honest, I did the same thing when Ozpin first came into my house. I nearly hacked him in the head with an axe…."

"Oh my God, you're kidding me! You'll tell me all about it later, right?"

I nodded slightly, and chuckled at her eagerness to hear how I had attempted to scare Ozpin off with my little weapon. Hearing that she wasn't alone in the "I almost killed someone stupidly" department seemed to cheer her up as well.

"Good. Next thing, Ozpin wants me to help you get situated here in Beacon. And by that, I think he means the world in general. He wants me to get you caught up with what goes on here, among other things"

"So, he set you up to be my spirit animal, or something? I think I can get behind that idea."

"Yeah, I'll teach you all about Beacon, and you'll be just like everyone else! We'll be the best of friends, I just know it! I like that whole spirit animal thing too!"

She backed in her confidence a little, and then she looked like something dawned on her.

"Also, one more thing! Since you, y'know, don't really know much about being a girl apparently, I'm here to teach you about that too."

"Ohh, right. I kinda forgot about that…" I could feel my cheeks reddening with every second, and I knew Yang would savor my embarrassment.

"Well, I'm not quite sure how it works either, but all Ozpin told us was that you were a guy, and now you're a girl, end of story. I will ask one thing, though. Which do you like better so far?"

Now I was definitely blushing, and I knew that no matter what I said, Yang would tease me for it. I wasn't sure what to say, since I hadn't made many comparisons between the two.

She picked up on my emotions quicker than I expected.

"Hey, if I went too far just say so. I'm not here to make you feel bad; I want to do exactly the opposite."

"No, that's not it. The question is fine; I just don't know what to say quite yet. Can we come back to this some other time?"

"Hey, I don't mind. I just figured you would want to get the awkward stuff out of the way first."

"Actually, that sounds like a good plan. Come at me with every weird question you can think of, best to wipe them out first."

"Alrighty, here we go!" She adopted the most evil grin I could ever witness, and I knew that my soul was already sold.

* * *

Yang knew her questions well. She delivered in them in a well-rehearsed and oratory fashion, the exact opposite of what I expected from her. But it worked in her favor, as I was too stunned by her demeanor to keep up with what she was asking me, and I ended up giving her half assed responses. Anything from my Chest to my Ass she was curious about, and I wasn't quite sure how to answer her half of the time. Eventually, I was drowning her out, leaving myself alone with my thoughts.

"...Hey, did you hear me over there? Remnant to Wolfy, hellooooo?"

"Wait, what did you say? I didn't hear you."

"I said, before you decided to block me out completely, is that someone with a pair that nice shouldn't be walking around with 'Scott' for a name. You need a new one."

"Oh, right. Sorry, I was kind of exhausted when I came out of the shower, so I might have dozed off in the middle of all the questions."

"Ah, no worries, I got everything I needed anyhow. Now, what should we call you? You don't just recreate yourself every week."

"You raise a good point. I had been thinking about that, but wasn't sure how that would work. I'm not even sure what kind of name I would go with."

Yang sat back in the chair, and looked at me intently for a few minutes, probably thinking about what name went best with my look.

"Well, I can't think of anything good. What about you?"

I thought of every name I could recall, and looked for one that made any kind of sense in these circumstances. I thought of using my mother's name, but if she ever decided to join me that would be a bit difficult to deal with. There had to be something I could use…

"Wait, I think I have something!."

'Well, what is it?"

"I... want be called Rika. It's a name from somewhere in my world. I always liked the ring of names form that place, so I want to be called that."

"Hm, I like the sound of it. Any ideas on a last name? If you plan on ever going to classes here, you'll need one or else the Professors will be in an outrage every time they want to call on you."

"Well in that case, I see no reason not to oblige them. I'll assume the name Clarence as my surname. It was my old Uncle's name, and I quite liked it."

"What about your old one? Wouldn't it be weird to use a different last name?"

"No one knows me here, they wouldn't have any idea that it was every different."

"Well, okay then. Welcome to Remnant, Rika Clarence."

She extended her arm to meet mine, and I pulled out my hand as well to reach hers. I grabbed her hand with all the strength my now minuscule hands could offer, and squeezed with the force of my entire being. I had heard that Yang was quite strong, so I wanted to see just how strong she was. I saw something faintly glow out of the corner of my eye, but I neglected the show and instead focused on the competition unfolding in front of me. Yang now understood the game, and had reacted accordingly. I wanted to see her strength for myself, and started this game to test her limits.

We were now locked din a contest to see whose hand would crumble first. Too bad for her, I wasn't caving in. Although my arms lacked the pure muscle that she had, I had practiced as a rock climber for years, toning my hands and building their resilience, and the hours of gaming left my hands in pristine condition. They were more than capable of handling Yang. Sure, she punched things all the time, but that was purely arm strength. Her hands were like play-doh, and I was more than willing to mold them to my design. What I wasn't expecting, however, was for her to flare her aura and quite literally crush my hands flat. I felt a few bones crack as she took my appendages for a spin, and I knew I had completely misjudged her.

I knew she had the ability to funnel her aura into her strengths, but I had not expected her to completely render my hand useless. After a minute or so of not feeling my hand anymore, I looked back into her eyes and acknowledged her victory.

"Thanks. It's good to be here, really. Now, if you would be so kind as to allow my hand to reform, I'd be more than happy to say you won. Even if you cheated a little bit…" I was starting to cry a little from the sudden pain after the numbness, and I lacked the mental capacity to omit my thoughts from translating into word.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you over the sounds of broken knuckles?" She then obliged to increase her grapple hold on my hands, making a few more joints pop at the added force.

"NO NO I LIED TOTALLY FAIR VICTORY, I CONCEDE DEFEAT, YOU WIN ALL HAIL XAIO LONG, JUST PLEASE LET ME GO I NEED THAT HAND!"

She simply shrugged her shoulders and chuckled. "Eh, if you say so."

She released my hand, and subsequently turned her aura back down to its regular levels, eliminating the glow that had surrounded her previously.

I examined the damage done by Yang's yellow fury, and was rather pleased to see that she hadn't done much. My pinky was dislocated, but everything else was quite functional. She had managed to cut off my circulation, but nothing was ultimately shattered. By some miracle she hadn't injured anything else. I prepared myself for the agony of re-locating my finger, and took a deep breath. I quickly pooped the joint into place and grunted at the pain. I then flexed it a few times to ensure it worked, and then sunk back into the pillow behind me.

"Man, you play harder than I expected."

"Well, if you want to go and try to nearly rip off my hand just to see how far I'd go, what else did you expect? I was simply showing you what I could do."

I knew this is what she would do. Yang couldn't resist a fight, even against a friend. My test served its purpose beautifully. The only thing that was unaccounted for was the odd glow before things got serious.

"Yang, did you see that odd flash of light right before we started? I can't seem to figure out what it was."

"If I had to guess, I'd say that was your aura flaring up. Nothing else really acts like that."

"It can't be, my aura hasn't been unlocked yet. I didn't even know I _could_ have one until a few days ago, to be honest."

She began to remove her gauntlets as I was talking, putting them away in her pockets before turning back to face me.

"Give me your hand, Rika."

"What is it with people wanting to see my body these days; there really isn't anything so spec- ok, maybe there is. But that doesn't mean I enjoy being looked at so much!" I was really starting to hate being so different, if it meant that everyone would want to touch me in some way.

"No, silly. I want to test your aura. I'll be channeling my aura to look for traces of one in you, so that means I need to be in contact with your skin."

"You know, the longer I'm here, the more ridiculous bullshit I hear… But because it's you, I'll go along with it."

I held out my hands, letting them rest upon her bare hands, with no gloves or bracelets to be seen. I've never seen her bare hands, so I expected them to be coarse and puffy like mine. Instead, she had the beautifully sculpted hand of a goddess, with silky skin and the most feminine fingers I could imagine. The gloves she wore must protect her hands form any real damage.

"Alright, now close your eyes and focus on my hands. When I'm finished, I'll let you know. Are you ready?"

I nodded quickly, and grunted with my approval. She also closed her eyes, and began to hum softly. I cleared my thoughts, and instead painted an image of Yang's hands in my mind. As the image came into view, I started getting a little warm. It was my nerves getting the better of me, and I ignored them, instead continuing to focus on my mind's image. Yang's humming got slightly louder, but I paid it no mind. My hands were starting to shake out of nervousness, the atmosphere of the room taking a dive into the unnatural. I felt like I was a part of some irreligious voodoo spell or something. I was starting to feel like I did in the rift tunnel, not being able to open my eyes and completely clueless to the world around me.

I felt something on the very tip of my nose, and I couldn't resist opening my eyes. Yang was recoiling her hand as fast as possible, but I knew it was her.

"So, what happened to testing my aura? Sounded like a perfect excuse to get me to close my eyes, if you ask me."

She put on a pouting face and tried to give me the guilt trip treatment, but I wasn't falling for it. Besides, she was _way_ less cute than Ruby when she does it.

"Sorry, that doesn't work on me. I had two sisters, and they did that to me all the time, I'm impervious to the pout!"

"Ah, well it was worth a shot. Anyways, that wasn't the whole reason I did that."

"So what was your reason then? I didn't feel anything really spectacular happen."

She leaned over and flicked my nose again. This time, however, I didn't feel anything aside from a little pressure from where her finger made impact. I looked at my nose, as well as I could anyway, and noticed a kind of grey glow coming from it.

"Whoa… I'm just gonna assume that was what you were getting at?"

She nodded, and remained silent, closing her eyes and smiling smugly.

"Bingo. That black flash was your Aura shielding you from my flick. Quite handy, if I say so myself. Also, the fact that you could already channel your aura into your own strength speaks about your control. You only just had your Aura unlocked, and you did something that we can only do after years of practice. Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't have done anything to my hand. You sure you aren't from Remnant?"

I shook my head, and experimented a little bit with my aura. From what I remembered, Aura had something to do with your will, and how passionately you felt when using it. I doubted I could suddenly get that emotional, but instead I focused on channeling my Aura into my hands, for starters. I made an image of my hands in my mind's eye, and sunk into my trance. I felt a sense of awareness come over myself, suddenly extremely conscious of my body's motor and mental functions. I imagined hitting something, like a wall or a lamp, and willed my mind to envision myself destroying them piece by piece. I imagined myself having fun with it, trying to synthesize all of the emotion and determination that I could.

I thought about Dad, and being able to see him again, to be able to be with him once again. I thought about having a father again.

I felt my skin tingle, and my thoughts begin to increase in speed. They were mutated into raw emotion, and were accelerated into reality, fueling my Aura with every waking moment. I felt things I wasn't sure existed, things I couldn't even name if I tried. It was all a great big neural mess, and my mind couldn't make any sense of it, let alone control it.

Somehow, Yang snapped me out of my fit, and forced me back into the physical world. My eyes fluttered back to attention, and I noticed that I was now lying down against the bed. Yang was leaning towards me, sweat beading her forehead and her Aura returning to normal. I myself seemed quite hot, and I saw patches of my Aura receding on my body.

"Well, first time I tried to focus my Aura it goes haywire. Great story to tell Ozpin when I see him. Thanks for that, whatever you did. I get the feeling that could have turned _really_ nasty if you hadn't done something."

Yang answered me in between pants, trying to regain her breath

"It's… Nothing…. Your Aura is… Just a little… Unstable, will fix itself in a while… Had to cut the flow of Aura… took a little bit out of me... Phew, man I'm tired now."

She walked away from my bed and into the bathroom. I heard the spicket go on, and Yang throwing water (presumably on her face). I looked back at my hands, now returned to normal, and thought about what would have happened if she had not been there. How far would I have gone into my own mind? I shuddered at the kinds of things that could have come through my mind's eye, and gave a silent thanks to my busty savior. I would get her some whiskey later as thanks, she had earned it.

"Well, now that we both have our first meetings and haywire Auras out of the way, I'm gonna go. I'll tell you everything you need to know as it comes along. Later, when you get out of here, we'll go shopping for something decent to wear. Don't worry about the Lien, Ozpin gave me a loan for that, I have you covered."

"Well, many thanks my friend. Oh! Before I forget, do they have good meat in the dining hall? My carnal cravings have been kicking in lately, and I need some good food."

"Beacon has the best food in Remnant for mass consumption; meats are their pride and joy! Steak, Filet Mignon, London broil, anything you can think of! Not much vegan stuff though. I guess you could call being a Vegetarian… A big Missed Steak! EHHH?"

I felt my hand instinctively go to my forehead, attempting to squeeze the frustration out of my head.

"Yang, remind me when I get a weapon to thoroughly beat the ever living shit out of you for that…" She looked at me with a mock puppy dog face, and then broke out into laughter.

"You and everyone else, fluffy kins. Glad to see I can still lift the spirits of my friends. Well, I'll see ya later Rika. Don't go breaking anything else, you hear? I'll be in the lobby when you get discharged, don't leave without me!"

With her back turned as she said this, she nearly bounced out of the room, leaving me with a severe hatred of puns and an even more enraged desire to eat some good meat. However, I still had to wait another day until I could leave. I was just as exhausted as Yang described, and the sun was slowly waning outside of my window. I decided to call it an early night, and go to bed. I didn't really care about dinner, so I had no qualms about skipping it. I wasn't hungry anyway, not after the last hour.

One thing struck me as peculiar about this whole situation though.

_I didn't have an Aura before I woke up in the Hospital, and suddenly I do. _

This was definitely something I needed to tell Ozpin, since the same thing had happened to my Dad. For all we knew our cases were as similar as possible, and I was sure he wanted to look into this further. I wrote a reminder on my scroll to tell him on Saturday, when I was out of here. As much as I was a curious freak when it came to Hospitals and wounds, I well had more than enough time sitting in one being a patient.

I leaned back, and fell into my now deformed pillow with all of my gravity behind it. I wondered what it would be like to go shopping as a girl now. I had seen my sisters dote over the smallest items, and I was curious to see what all of the fuss was about now that I had the chance to do it myself. With Yang there, it would be a little easier than being on my own, but I was still a little nervous, since I wasn't exactly a "pureblood" woman.

But, before I could pump out any more worrisome thoughts, I drifted into sleep, and succumbed to my exhausted brain's demands for peace. For all of the chaos that was about to ensue, I absorbed as much as I could.

* * *

**_Well, here it finally is. Sorry for such a long wait, my will to write has been very low lately. This chapter mainly deals with Rika discovering new things about herself ad coming to terms with them, in preparation for the world outside the Hospital. Again, any questions or comments are greatly appreciated. _**


	4. Chapter 3

"Yang, as much as I'd like to say this was a good choice, I'm having a really hard time forming the words. Are you _sure _no one will make fun of me for this outfit?"

"You'll be fiiiine, don't worry about it. You're forgetting that you travel with me, and no one would dare to make a crack at you with me around, I can guarantee it."

I was pacing in my room, trying to get a feel for my temporary outfit. Yang had shown up mere minutes after I was cleared to leave. She had a small duffel bag with her, and in it she had placed my outfit for the day. However, it was a bit… more than I was willing to work with, at least in the moment.

"Yeah, but that won't stop me from feeling like a total sleeze when I'm wearing this. I mean, don't get me wrong, you managed to guess my sizes pretty well, but it doesn't really matter when my chest is nearly falling out of my shirt!"

I think she had forgotten who she was buying for, and simply bought according to her own tastes. In her bag of wonders, she had procured a medium sized tank top and a matte leather jacket. However, the jacket and tank top covered a lot less than I expected them to, leaving an excessive amount of cleavage visible. The jacket's zipper only came under my ribs, so all I could do was try to hold it closed at the upper level. I wasn't used to having my chest so exposed, so it was altogether uncomfortable. I wasn't really used to earing a bra, either. My lower half was only slightly better represented. A pair of dark blue canvas caprees and some military style boots were my picks, but the caprees hugged my body a little bit _too _tightly. If this was what it meant to try to look sexy, I could easily tell I wasn't going to be looking very sexy all of the time.

"Hey, I dress like that all the time, and I turn heads! Come on, you look great in those! I even got you a cool Fedora to go with everything. All in all, you look ready to go man hunting. Besides, it's not like a lot of women's clothing is exactly comfortable these days, so I couldn't really get any better than that. I kept it as plain as possible."

I looked at Yang with a rather uncomfortable look on my face, and let out a large breath.

"Yang, there are so many things about that sentence that I don't like. One; I don't think I'm exactly looking to go 'man hunting' any time soon. Two; Even if I look good, I still feel like a slut, and three; the fact that having a Fedora makes me feel a little bit better is concerning."

I didn't want to admit it, but the stupid hat really _did_ make it look a whole lot better. But as for the rest of my attire, I would just have to deal with it.

"Well, don't worry; we'll find something more to your liking later on. For now, though, let's get out of here. I think you've been in the Hospital long enough."

I nodded, and gathered up my scroll from the counter. I really had no belongings to bring with me, since my clothes from before were all ripped up from the explosion in the dorms, and I hadn't brought anything else with me beforehand. I had discovered a neat trick regarding my scroll as well; it had the ability to condense into a bracer, and clasp around my wrist. It then expanded again, forming to the contours of my arm, and flexing with it while retaining its functionality. It freed up my pockets, and made sure I didn't lose it as well. Perfect for those like me with a limited memory capacity.

I jogged lightly to catch up to Yang after I fled the room, slamming the door behind me. I blushed a little at the jiggle I observed on my chest, and slowed myself so that I came to a speedy stride beside Yang as she neared the elevator. She looked back and saw me blushing, and looked forward again, shaking her head in dismay.

"Yeesh, you really have no idea how to be a woman, do you? Men don't exactly have to worry about this sort of thing, but give it some time, you'll figure it out. I mean, look at me. I've had these honkers on me for years now, but I do just fine, even in combat."

I still looked embarrassed, I could tell from the look of concern Yang was shooting my way, but at this point I wasn't really caring. Being in a bed for a week and then suddenly having to move around in a new body in these kinds of clothes was _way_ over my tolerance of unwanted situations. I had a feeling, no matter how much Yang tried to help, it was going to be a very long shopping trip…

I saw the elevator at the end of the hall, and I suddenly had an Idea. I quickly dashed towards it, catching Yang off guard, leaving her in the dust as I frantically pressed the button. Luckily someone was exiting on this floor, and I changed spots with her and closed the door. Fortunately, Yang had just turned the corner, looking out of breath and a bit annoyed.

I put a hand to my Fedora, and tipped it in her direction, with a sly smile on my face.

"M'Lady…"

I could feel the heat building on the other side of the elevator door as I descended, quickly patting myself on the back for my quick thinking. Oh, how the internet would have been pleased. Now, I had to think of something to say to her on the bottom floor. I easily decided on my path, and prepared my discourse accordingly.

When the doors opened, I was greeted by a rather pissed off Yang flanked by some rather frightened nurses huddling in the corner. I took the initiative in the conversation, leaning my face towards her and my body against the wall.

"As you can see, I am not some _Neanderthal _Beta. I am an Alpha, and I believe myself quite capable, given the chance to prove it."

Oh dear Lord, this was too good. It would seem that the whole cultural phenomenon around Fedoras existed in Remnant too, for Yang immediately burst into laughter, having to place a hand on the wall to steady herself.

"Oh yeah, it's good to be an Alpha…"

* * *

"So what do you think looks better, the white or the red?"

"Hmm… If I had to guess, I'd say they red, it Compliments your looks a little better."

Shopping was far better than I had originally envisioned. Under normal circumstances, I hated shopping, especially for clothing, simply because of all the hassle it brought along, but this was different. There were more things to consider, more factors to account for, and certainly more choices than men's clothing. I had decided that my boots would last me a while, so I opted not to visit a shoe store. I didn't need a hat, since my newly acquired Fedora (with custom cut ear sockets at the top just for me I might add) filled that role quite nicely, and seemed to work with almost any outfit.

If anything else, it was a hunt to find the perfection among the flawed. A hunt I was well engrossed in.

I put down the red button down I had been wearing on the pile in the corner, and exited the dressing room with Yang in tow, carrying a bag from a previous store.

"Well, that marks everything I can think of. I have to say, I didn't expect Vale to be such a big shopping town. All I see everywhere in this town is shops and more shops."

"Vale is the commercial capital of the world, this is pretty average. Late in the year, this place is even more crowded than the summer."

"Reminds me of a place back home I lived near. Not the best of places, but still pretty big. Oh, speaking of which, I had something to ask."

We approached the front counter, and placed the two shirts I picked out on the counter. I had quickly found a shirt more suited to my tastes, and changed into it. I now wore a light blue silk dress shirt under my leather jacket. The jacket Yang had given me was rather warm, being lined with fluffy fur, so I decided to keep it on. I had switched out my caprees with a heavy pair of cargo pants. After I bought them, I had to quickly cut a hole in the back of them to fit my tail though, but otherwise everything was perfectly fitted.

"I didn't really see anyone on campus when we left. Where was everyone? I though Beacon would be way more packed than I saw."

"Winter Holiday" she replied. "It won't be another two weeks before everyone returns en masse. They had started just when you arrived, when everyone was getting ready to leave. Me and Ruby decided to stay this year, and give our Uncle a break during his time off. Everyone else on our floor went home, Weiss and Blake included. Ozpin always stays here with Goodwitch, and a few other people didn't feel like going home either. In all, only about fifty people are at the school."

"Well, seems like we chose a perfect time to get me used to the campus then, since I won't be leaving anytime soon. I wonder what Ozpin will do with me once the break ends…"

"That was something I wanted to ask about too. Ozpin told us everything except for that you weren't from Remnant, and he brought you here. He didn't tell _why. _So, we don't really know what he plans on doing either."

Yang paused, and gestured towards a nearby bench.

"Let's sit down over there; I'm getting tired of holding all these bags."

We wandered over to the bench, and placed my items on the ground next to us. There wasn't any snow, so the materials inside the bag wouldn't be any worse for it.

"Rika, up until now I've tried to avoid asking too many questions , simply because I know your situation isn't very easy right now. Also, I know that whatever brought you here can't be very easy to talk about. I mean, seriously, unless you had something pretty damn important to come here for, you wouldn't have left everything the way you did. Ozpin told me you had a pretty good life going for you back there."

"Anything I had there can be rebuilt here. Just because my body has changed, doesn't mean my brain has… well maybe not, but you get my point. I can do it all over again, and gain even more. Leaving my life behind wasn't as hard as you might think. I said my goodbyes, and I don't regret my decision. I don't have a reason to, at least not yet."

"What about your family? Even if you said goodbye, it doesn't make it any easier. Personally, I don't know what could make you leave your family willingly. That seems like a luxury."

I stared into the ground, and absorbed Yang's scrutiny. She was right, in many ways. The reason I came here _wasn't _easy to talk about, and I had chosen to sacrifice everything to come here. Now, she wondered if what I sought in this world was worth my entire life…

"That's the key, Yang. Family. Family was what made me come here." I turned my gaze to meet hers, and we locked eyes for a moment before I continued. My gold met her lilac, and the two seemed to mix in the moment.

"I came here to see my father again. On Earth, he died two years ago. He suffered an aneurism in the middle of the night, and died in our home minutes before an ambulance even came. He was buried, and I saw my father fade from existence, day by day. For two years, every happiness I felt was tapered by the fact that I had no father, the man who would help define my life. He would help me get a girlfriend, drive a car, go to college, get married, survive having children, and everything in between."

Yang was silent, not quite sure where I was going with this, and ultimately looked more confused than she had begun with.

"My Father was supposed to be able to have his grandchildren flood his home on Christmas, and bounce them on his knee with a smile on his face. He was supposed to grow old with my mother, and live out their golden years to the fullest travelling the world, and seeing the great sights it held. I felt twice cheated Yang; partly because I didn't get to have my Dad in my life anymore, and because he didn't have me in his."

I could feel tears building in my eyes, but I refused to let them stop my dialogue, because these were things that needed to be said.

"I was his only son, the person he nurtured from birth to be his 'little man', the one who he could share a beer with, hike a mountain with, and talk about women with. He wanted to be my best friend when I grew old enough, and I wanted to do the same with him."

Then, I faced away from Yang, a stream of salty liquid flowing down my nose and onto my cheeks.

"Yang, the reason I came to Remnant, despite leaving behind everything, is because I wanted my Dad back; I wanted my best friend back. When he died, his soul came here and Ozpin found it. Now, he's all alone, and in what condition I have no idea. He sent Ozpin to get me, and me alone, and I accepted. To me, leaving Earth was a fair trade. I traded my absence there to be here next to him, to be the one whom he could look to, when he was all alone. He had given me so much, that I wanted to give him something back… I…"

And then I couldn't go on. Every last drop of tension leaked out of my eyes, and I slumped over in the seat, silently sobbing into the cold air around me. Yang, for a while, closed her eyes and disregarded me, taking in my testimony, and acknowledging its merits and flaws. But then, she drew me into her arms, holding me tight, and whispering into my ears.

"It's alright. You don't need to say anything. Thank you, Rika."

We stayed like this for an unknown amount of time. Scarcely anyone passed by, the streets deserted in this time of year, no one feeling the need to escape the heat of their homes.

Eventually, I started getting cold, despite Yang's innate inferno capacity keeping me warm, and pulled away from her grasp.

"I would like this to stay between us, for now at least. When I'm ready I'll tell Weiss, but for now only you are to know this. She has a right to the information, but it will come from my mouth."

"Hey, I'm not a blabbermouth, that's Ruby. Besides, she and Blake don't even know you're here yet. Well, Weiss does, but she is gone too. Don't worry, my lips are sealed Rika."

I nodded, and pulled a pack of tissues out of my pocket, wiping my eyes and nose. Another reason not to wear makeup; having it run when you cry.

"Thanks. To be honest, I hadn't really done much thinking on that subject since I got here. I needed to get all of that off my chest, and now I feel a lot better. Everything feels more concrete now."

"Well, you're going to need to feel better. When we get back, Ozpin wants to talk to you. We both know how draining conversations with him are, so at least now you're prepared a little bit."

"He did say something like that to me too. I nearly forgot about it, to be honest. Word to the wise; never expect me to remember anything longer than twenty minutes."

She shrugged her shoulders, and chuckled slightly.

"Sounds a bit like Ruby, honestly. I'm used to remembering everything for her. Wouldn't be bad if I had to add another one to my list if you wanted."

"Well, tempting as that may be, I'll need to learn sometime. Better start learning how to remember now. I can't rely on people forever."

She simply nodded, and stood up, stretching her arms, and yawning loudly.

"Well, I say we head back to the port, next ship to Beacon leaves in half an hour, wouldn't want to miss it, would we?"

"No, that's true. Ozpin would have my head on a pike if I stood him up right after I get out of the Hospital."

"Well, off we go then. Come on, get the bags, and let's go!"

I shouldered the satchels, and bounded after the bouncing yellow bolt running off in front of me, keen on leaving me in this unknown city, unless I decided to pick up my pace.

* * *

"Alright, Ozpin's office is through here. Just call the elevator, and Goodwitch will see you in. I'll keep the bags with me, so don't worry. Just call me on my scroll once you're done, I've got to go pick up Ruby from the training fields. Later!"

Yang quickly jogged away from my position, and I was suddenly alone in the lobby of Beacon; that is, the large Lighthouse that the campus was named after. It was pretty plain for somewhere as fancy as Beacon. White plaster walls, plain wooden benches, and an old wooden door. Seems like Ozpin wasn't one to embellish his holdings. I pushed the plastic button on the elevator console, and the doors sprang open.

I stepped in, and turned around. The doors closed instantly behind me, and the elevator slowly began its ascent. I heard a rather bouncy tune playing from the speaker above me, and I recognized it as a clarinet, playing beside a big band.

"Funny, I didn't figure Ozpin to be the type to like Jazz. Sized him up for more of the classic rock type."

I would definitely need to treat him to some of my playing later on, but for now I would need to see what exactly he wanted to talk about, and what needed to be settled.

About a minute passed before the doors opened again. I walked out into what looked like a circular library. The walls were a few meters tall, and the majority of it was lined with books of all kinds. The floor was a sleek tile, and directly in front of me was a rather exquisite looking desk. Behind that desk currently was a preoccupied Glynda Goodwitch, staring intently, at the screen in front of her, not even acknowledging my presence.

I stood quite awkwardly in front of the elevator door for a few moments, until I built up the nerve to make myself known to the bespectacled beauty in front of me.

"Um… Hello, Miss Goodwitch. I think Ozpin wanted to see me?"

She quickly spared me a glance, and then immediately resumed her previous work.

"Ah, yes. Go in. They are waiting for you, don't delay any longer than you already have."

I took this clearance to enter, and pushed open the large oak doors behind Goodwitch, and slowly walked through them.

At the far end of the circular clockwork office was Ozpin, sitting in his desk, taking a sip of his drink, and conversing with a man in a wheelchair in front of him. I took pains to try and place his image, but nothing came to mind. His hair was parted down the middle, with a slight wave near the front, and the rest combed back. He wore rather large glasses, and had rather pockmarked skin. He seemed rather exhausted, for his skin was loose and he looked hunched and ready to fall asleep. However, he was holding conversation quite easily with Ozpin, despite his elderly look. When I walked closer, I noticed his right hand was constructed of pure metal, likely a replacement for his original. I approached the desk, and waited for their discourse to be finished before interjecting.

"…No matter what you say, old man, I can't just let you leave. You and I both know that your presence here is vital for every reason we can think of. Believe me, I would love to let you stroll around Vale for a day or two, but the council has me pressed on the matter. No matter what I recommend, they will ultimately elect to keep you here, away from any possible harm, and in the company of the best this world can offer."

"But… I can't stay like this forever Ozpin. Someday, when he gets here, I want to be able to say that I've gone and seen everything, went and experienced all the wonders it has to offer, not cooped up in a school for two years getting tested and feeling old as hell. Not to mention lonely, and depressed, and sick… Ahh hell, the last two years have sucked royally. I just want something good to come my way, y'know?"

His voice seemed much younger than his body did, with a slightly sarcastic ring to its mellow tone.

Ozpin looked my way, gave me a subtle wink, and turned his gaze back onto his primary guest.

"Well, it may please you to hear that something good has finally graced your presence. Turn around."

The man next to me twisted both directions, until finally discerning my location. I now got a good look at his face, not from the side. He had deep brown eyes, and a slightly prickly looking 5 o'clock shadow growing on his chin. I noticed that one of his eyes, the left eye, had a particularly nasty scar over it, similar to that which adorned Weiss, but not quite as clean. He looked at me with eager eyes, but ultimately resumed his neutral look, and turned back to Ozpin.

"I see a girl who looks like she just spent the day getting pretty at a store. Why is she the good I have been waiting for?"

"Well, I would expect you not to be able to recognize it right off the bat, but I would have expected better from her." Ozpin then shifted his attention to me, tilting his head slightly but retaining the same expectant tone.

"Come now, can you really not tell who he is?"

I pondered this for a few moments, and felt a sudden wave of Déjà vu permeate my thoughts. I really am bad at recognizing people I should know, it seems.

"Ozpin, I pretty much idolized you and when you showed up I couldn't figure out who you were. I think we both need some kind of hint here."

Ozpin hung his head low, and stood from his seat.

"I would have expected as much, although it still disappoints me to need to intervene. Very well then, just like before, I will serve to bridge the gap in your memories."

He opened a drawer in his desk, and pulled out what looked to be a baseball. It was in a plastic display case, and looked to be signed. He tossed the case towards the man next to me, who caught it clumsily, and then proceeded to observe its contents.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as his grip on the ball became shaky, and his gaze turned to Ozpin.

"Where… Where did you get this ball? I kept it on my dresser like a trophy after he gave it to me… How did you get it?"

"It's quite simple really… I completed my mission."

The mystery next to me gasped at this revelation, and stumbled over inaudible words before Ozpin began to speak again.

"I retrieved the package you sent me to get, and picked this up along with it in case something like this happened. I was aware this served as a bond between the two of you, and brought it here for the purpose of proving it to you. Go on, show it to her."

He passed the ball to me, his hands still shaking, his eyes gazing blankly out the window. In my hand, I examined the ball. It was fresh, likely sealed moments after the thing was signed. I looked carefully at the signature attempting to discern the name written in it. After some time, I managed to decode the swooping letters and figure out their meaning:

Cliff Lee #33 To: Larry

The ball dropped immediately from my hands, as they went limp next to me, and I turned my whole body to face the man next to me, with new meaning in my mind, and a new wave of disbelief building in my throat.

"No… Fucking… Way…"

"Quite the opposite. May I introduce Mr. Lawrence Cortes. If I am not mistaken, this is your father in the flesh."

I dropped to my knees next to him, and looked at him with our eyes meeting on equal levels. I looked deeper, and found the diminished soul of a man tormented by his past. The past we shared. I looked at his face, and saw the familiar markings and wrinkles, alongside some new ones, that I had looked upon all my life.

"Scott… Dear holy Lord… this, is you? My little man?"

He reached out his hand, coming to my face, and resting upon my cheek. I moved my own to meet his, feeling the flesh I had once felt gone cold. It was eerie; to feel a hand you had last felt on a dead man, once again living. But nonetheless, I welcomed it with a waterfall of emotions seeping from my eyes.

"Hey there papa bear…"

He quickly vacated his wheelchair, and came to kneel in front of me, as I did him. He once again looked into my eyes, and saw the same resonance I had seen in him. He knew just as I did.

"Scott…You… are here…it really worked…"

"Shhh. It's alright, I _am_ here. Now, you aren't alone anymore. Now, you won't ever leave me again…"

After this, words were futile. The only thing that mattered was feeling the shoulders of my father alongside my arms. He met my embrace, and we relished our impossible reunion with the most sorrowful of tears I could imagine. Long had we been separate, knowing the realities of our lives, and accepting them. But now, we meet again, a true testament to the sheer falseness of those realities. We shed our despair like cloaks in that moment, and for the first time in years let the joy of our hearts reign free.

Now, we savored in the moment. Now we held dear and near, our True Realities.

* * *

_**Sorry for such a long wait in between chapters guys, I had some MAJOR writers block, and my school's marking period ended recently, so I have been busy. I hope this meets the standards of what I have been putting out before. If you see any flagrant errors or want to tell me something, review and I;ll answer you in the next chapter.**_

_**Cheers Mates!**_


	5. Chapter 4

"You… look a little different than I remember. The ladies must have had some influence on you while I was gone."

It wasn't until a short while ago that we had finally pried each other from their embrace, but the tenderness from the moment had still lingered. I now sat next to Dad in the chair in front of Ozpin's desk, and its owner having sat back down as well. Dad was once again propped in his wheelchair.

"Well, sure they did. I learned a lot from them while you were gone, but this" I gestured to myself, "was an entirely different story. Some scientific bullcrap about Aura and space/time and things I don't feel like getting into comletely. I'll be more than happy to talk about the rest, though."

"Please, do. I'm a little eager to hear how my son became… well, my daughter."

He looked both curious and uncomfortable at the same time, the uneasiness of the topic showing in his eyes.

"Well, one night, on New Years' to be exact, Ozpin paid me a little visit at home. Of course, I had no idea who he was and nearly tried to bash his skull in with a little hand axe."

Dad looked at me cock eyed, surprised at my bold actions.

"Hey, don't look at me! He's the one who decided to break in and expect me to be understanding about the whole thing!"

"I will admit, my entry plan was a bit flawed, but it was simply a means to an end, mind you."

"Okay, whatever, anyways, he explains himself, and we talk for a while. He tells me you're alive, and I go ballistic on him. He pulls me back to reality, and he gives me an offer to come back here with him. And, well, you can tell what choice I made."

"I figured that much. I was the one who sent him there, after all. However, he neglected to tell me he had set out and succeeded until now. Kept quite a secret from he, he did."

Dad cast Ozpin a dirty look, who simply continued to stare at the two of us in a kind of childish glee.

"Well, that's where things got interesting. Since I didn't have an aura at the time, I was prone to attacks by some kind of… well; I guess radiation or something, on the way here. When we plopped in, we nearly blew up some poor team's dorm. I didn't really change at all until I went unconscious after we arrived."

Dad heaved a great sigh, and looked towards me.

"So, I've finally been beaten out, eh? The females have finally dominated me, and even my son has joined them. It is a sad day for the Cortes name indeed…."

I saw a single tear come out of his right eye, and it tore into my soul.

"Hey, it's not like I'm crazy about guys now. In here, I'm still the same kid. All that's changed is the exterior."

I tapped my head a few times to emphasize the point, and he seemed to chuckle a little at this.

"Ah, well, I guess you're right. And, for the record, as your father my job is still to help you get a girlfriend, by that standard. Either way, as you said, you still are my little man on the inside. Little side note on that front; you are quite the looker m'boy. If I wasn't able to tell you were my son in there, I would've mistaken you for some wolf goddess!"

"Speaking of insides, how have yours been? You _did_ have a massive aneurism before you died."

There was a slight pause before he responded, and the solemnity of his tone replaced the jubilant sarcasm entirely.

"So, it's true then. When I woke up here, I really?..."

I nodded, confirming his inquiry.

"I see. I had hoped that Ozpin's guess was only that; a guess. I couldn't stand the thought of leaving you all that time ago. It was so sudden I barely had time to tell your mother I loved her before I blacked out. I was…mentally confused and weak for a long time after that. When I finally cleared my head, I was in the middle of a forest, and more scared than I've ever been. I felt stable, so I wandered around in that forest for what felt like two days, all the while getting chased by Beowolves and beat up by the forest in general. Eventually, I saw a tower off in the distance, and started running towards it. I ran, and ran, and ran, but it never seemed to get any closer. I was starting to lose hope when the sun started setting, and the tower still looked a good ways off. I came into a clearing, and saw a giant cliff barring my path, next to some kind of old ruins. I sank into despair, laid down in front of the cliff, and prepared to die at the hands of the ravenous beasts on my tail. I accepted my end, and simply closed my eyes, for the last time, I told myself."

He looked as if the memories were taking shape in front of him, the details coming so vividly before his eyes, beyond what his mind could form into words. It tore my soul to pieces to see him suffering all over again, but it brought some clarity to his situation, so I allowed him to press on with his tale.

"But, something unexpected happened; I opened my eyes again, when I didn't hear anything happening. I thought maybe the savages were fucking with me, but instead of death and black fur I saw annoyingly green man in front of me. The Beowolves were nowhere to be seen, and the man turned around to face me. He stared at me for a while, but for how long I couldn't tell. I passed out not long after that, and drifted in and out of sanity for a good while.

The next time I awoke, I was in a hospital room, hooked up to every which machine I could imagine, and surrounded by hazmat suits."

Ozpin looked up at us, and took another sip of coffee, eyeing is hardly.

"Allow me to continue from there. If I remember correctly, you didn't give us a logical answer for another week after that."

Dad nodded in agreement, and sank back into his chair again, seemingly recovering from his trip down nightmare lane.

"When we had found your father, I knew something was amiss because of the Aura readings coming from his body. His levels were higher than any I had ever seen. I believed him to be in some state of radioactivity, and had him quarantined. That can attest to the scene that he saw when he awoke the first time.

Over the course of the following months, we ascertained whatever we could form both him and his body. He told us his story, and we told him ours.

In the end, we learned something revolutionary.

Your father is the first of many things for our world. For starters, he has the best internal health I have ever seen in a man of his age. Do not be fooled by his exterior, he is in as good health as he was when he was twenty years old, it is truly astonishing. His bone mass, muscle structure, and internal vitality are all decades above the norm for him. Personally, I attribute it to his transport here, as his genes were likely altered, revitalizing his body."

"Well, as much as I love to hear how my Dad is in better condition than he left us is, I still have no idea how he has a metal hand OR how he ended up in a wheelchair. Both of these stories would be truly _enlightening_, wouldn't you agree dearest father of mine?"

Dad leaned away in his chair, placing a mock look of fear on his face, rolling along with the mood I had set up.

"Yes dear, I think it would be truly _wonderful_. Oh Ozpin, darling, lets tell him shall we?"

"It now occurs to me where she gets her cynical sarcasm from… Well, like father like son… daughter… you know what I mean."

I shared a small chuckle with the youthful elder next to me, and waited for the next story to begin. Ozpin took yet another sip and looked at us once again.

"To be honest, I haven't even told your father why he is in wheelchair yet, so this may be news for both of you."

He rummaged through his desk until he found a stack of papers, and read off some of the contents, generalized by his own whim.

"When we examined your body, we did a full diagnostic scan on your neural system as well. In our readings, we noticed peculiarities in the signals going to your legs and right hand. When we attempted to stimulate them with electricity, they elicited no response. Also, any and all stimuli we tried to use had a similar result. We had told you such when you first awoke, but we neglected to say what had happened to your legs."

"Wait, so he has a metal hand because he was _paralyzed_?!"

"Old news dear. I've had this baby for two years, and its stickin' with me till the end now. Was hard enough getting used to using it and not feeling it. Same way with the legs really."

Hold on, why the legs?

"Wait a minute, I thought you were paralyzed, how were you walking?"

He put on a childish smile, and stood up once again, but this time was different from before. Instead of swooping low like he did when we reunited, he stood erect in front of Ozpin's desk, and turned towards me.

He lifted the legs of his trousers up, to reveal the same chrome finish that adorned his hand. His feet were modeled into shoes, eliminating the need to wear footwear. The metal was sculpted masterfully, running up his legs and ending where his knee would have been. There, it fused beautifully into his flesh, slowly transitioning back to the color of flesh like an industrial rainbow spectrum.

"Sure, I can go on a walk every now and again, but I don't really care for it. It doesn't feel natural to be moving around and walk without feeling your legs and feet move. Most of the time I stick to the chair. Besides, people don't exactly try to argue if you should go on a plane first if you have a chair with you."

I nodded slightly, and meditated on this for a moment. Really? The man who spent more time per day walking around than sleeping in a wheel chair? I found it hard to believe, and a little unfair.

"Now, I know what you're thinking, and please don't. Don't for a minute feel sorry for me or think this is some kind of cruel trick. I've been moving around all my life, and sure, while it is nice to get up and move around for a while every now and then, I think I'll stay seated for a while. I might be healthy, but that doesn't stop me from being tired as all get-out."

"Tell me one thing," I asked him. "If, perchance, I managed to find a good, non-Grimm infested hike somewhere, you would still go with me, right?"

His eyes glazed over for a millisecond, likely subconsciously recalling the years he spent exploring the wilderness.

"For you, I'd even go on a walk through Forever Fall, unarmed. And, as an answer, yes, I would love to."

I smiled gleefully, and my mind began to wander to what it would be like to wander through nature with Dad at my side again. For years he took me on his excursions through town and out into the wild. It was a new day every time we went out, and every time we went on vacation, there just happened to be a good hike somewhere. I was quite familiar with mountains from being with him on his adventures, and those hikes were some of the best memories of my life.

My mental wandering was cut short when Ozpin loudly coughed to pull me out of my inner thoughts, pulling the conversation, and our attention, back onto him.

"Well, now that this is all taken care of, there is something I needed to go over with you, something that will ultimately define your life here in Remnant. I, of course, mean your next step."

"Right, I had a feeling that would weave its way into the conversation somehow. So, whatcha' got for me, o' magical green wizard?"

"Show some respect! Just because you know him doesn't mean it's an all-out pass to give him nicknames! He's the most celebrated man for miles around and you call him the 'magical green wizard'? I taught you better!"

Ozpin put up a hand to stop him, and assumed a more clam voice than his usually stoic demeanor.

"Easy there, Lawrence. I do not mind it, so there is no reason to chastise her for it. I realize you have two years of parenting to make up for, but I would dial the nob back a few ticks, at least for the time being."

Ozpin shot me a playful wink, and took more drinks of his beverage. He then re-shuffled his papers, and began anew.

"As of this moment, certain aspects of your life will be decided, being as how you have just entered a completely new world with no record or evidence of existence being present. As such, the Council has granted me access to draft you a set of official documents, which will in turn be uploaded to your scroll, and used to create a World Network profile for you. Right now, we must fill out your information as it is deemed fitting by you and your Father."

He placed a stack of paper on his desk, and procured a fountain pen. He then turned the materials towards us, and beckoned for us to retrieve them.

"No that you are here; it is time the world knew it as well."

* * *

Name: Rika Clarence Eyes: Gold

Age: 17 Hair: Grey

Sex: Female Date of Birth: 26 Dec. 1997

Nationality: Atlas Race: Faunus

And just like that my life was essentially drafted before my eyes. I had to fabricate many things, such as my date of birth and nationality, but Ozpin never really stressed these factors. He made it sound more like making a new character in a video game than writing my life story, but in the end that was what it became. From what I knew, Atlas seemed like a pretty nice place, and it would account for my previous absence from Beacon. If I had been from Vale, or somewhere near, I might have been called a fraud, on account of never being seen. Ozpin was nice enough to take my picture then and there, sparing me the experience of having to go to a government kiosk.

Most of my medical information was already present on the sheet, likely due to my stay in the hospital.

When I finished, I had a feeling of sincerity coursing through my veins. I didn't feel like some kind of invading alien anymore, but simply like one of the pack. It felt good to have legitimacy, and felt even better knowing that now I would have a story to tell people when they asked me where I was from.

With one final swipe of his scroll, Ozpin finalized my form's entry, and uploaded an identical copy t my scroll's internal database. I had no idea the things acted in such a high capacity. No wonder the nurse was shocked I didn't know how to use a scroll; literally everyone had used one before.

Ozpin stood from his seat, and leaned towards me.

"The council has cleared your forms Rika; you are now an official denizen of Remnant. Allow me to be the first to officially say this to you,"

He walked from behind his desk to me, and beckoned for me to stand. When I did, he placed his mug on the desk, and buried me in the most enveloping, heartwarming bear hug I have ever experienced. I almost couldn't hear him speak when he did.

"Welcome home."

* * *

**_Ok I will admit this chapter is mostly filling in the blanks and filler information. Necessary, yet boring as all hell to write, so sorry it took some time. This might be the last chapter I get out for another month or so. I have my school's musical coming up, and I need to practice for my role in the Pit Orchestra.  
_**_**Next time we get away from the "Opening" story and get into Beacon/RWBY related events more and more often. It took a while to get here, but don't worry, we have time. **_

_**We always have time. Just keep moving forward. **_


	6. Chapter 5

Home. It was strikingly odd to think I had a new home.

Remnant really was my home now, and by extension, Beacon.

"Yep, you're here now and thank God for that. I can't tell you how great it is to see you again my dear. It feels like I have an entire family again with you here…"

Dad looked over at me in Ozpin's embrace, and smiled for the longest time I could remember him ever smiling for. Even after Ozpin let me go, he was grinning from ear to ear. After everything he had gone through until now, he deserved some happiness.

We were all pulled from the stupor of glee we had been encased in by my scroll buzzing furiously in my jacket's pocket. I pulled it out and extended it, and looked at my notifications to see what the matter was. I was receiving a call from an unknown number, but an odd symbol was shown under the number. It looked something along the lines of a jagged castle, adorned with searchlights and painted black.

"Hey, professor, you have any idea what this number is? I have no clue. Not to mention some weird symbol shows up underneath it."

I turned the scroll to the two of them, and allowed them a moment to ponder over it.

Only, they didn't need a moment. They grabbed the scroll from my hands and brought it close to themselves.

"Rika, answer this, now. Don't question it, simply do it. Trust me; you **_do not_** want to turn down the call from this number **_ever_**. Do you understand?"

I nodded nervously, and reluctantly received the scroll again. I quickly tapped the screen, and a loading logo appeared on it. After a brief moment, a picture of some kind of meeting room appeared before me.

There was a large hall, with a curved table in the middle, made of the most beautifully carved marble I had ever seen. Seated at this table were five figures, their faces shrouded in shadow, but their midsections fully revealed. There were four men and one woman, from what I could tell of their upper bodies. The one in the middle moved first, reaching below him and pulling a set of papers out from beneath the table.

"Odd. Ozpin reported bringing a male here. Why is it that these papers describe a Female, and a Faunus at that? I do believe the dear professor has been lying to us"

The clean, businesslike voice that rang out was answered by the cold, high pitched female voice next to him.

"Oh please, you dolt, he would never do such a thing. Clearly there are factors at work here we do not understand. All the more reason for this session to be called. We truly have no idea what we are dealing with here, as her father was much of the same thing."

The other three grunted in consent, with the middle voice depositing the papers underneath the desk silently, likely feeling a little deflated after his accusatory train was shut down.

The female then spoke to me again, directly addressing me.

"Now then, this Council has come to order. Before we begin, this Council has agreed that the aforementioned subject, Rika Clarence, may ask of the Council two questions. However, these questions will not be answered in any fashion that reveals the identity of its members, or the operations of its faculty. Is that made clear, Miss Clarence?"

"I... I guess so. May I begin?"

"Of course, whenever you are ready."

"Alright, number one; I wish to know what exactly this 'Council' is, in regards to Remnant. I mean, I only just found out about you twenty minutes ago, so I am a bit stunned my presence is so quickly acknowledged."

The man on the right end answered first, in a deep, gruff tone.

"Before you is the Council of Remnant, a collection of the five most powerful, influential, intelligent, and wealthy persons on the planet. Our purpose is to act as the heads of the land, and serve as the hand in the shadows that guides the world. We only reveal ourselves to those we deem dangerous enough to threaten our existence, honored enough to warrant our praise, or powerful enough to be one of our five members. However, the Council also acts in an informative fashion to the governments of Remnant through various connections within said governments, for the sake of their betterment. Be forewarned; the words you choose here fall on the ears of the single most powerful organization on the planet. Do not pick fights here."

So basically, the UN of Remnant decided to give my personal scroll a call. Great, just what I need; politicians and businessmen in my phone book. However, I needed to be careful. It wouldn't be worth making enemies here, especially enemies that could influence the entire world.

"Alright, I find that description adequate. Next question; why is it that you are now contacting me? The 'most powerful organization on the planet' just doesn't prank call some random teenager for fun. I imagine there was a rather good reason."

"Watch your tongue! Just because **_he_** is acting as your guardian doesn't give you the right to say whatever you please."

I guess playing the "Sarcastic Little Shit" card wasn't going over too well here. The belligerent one from earlier was once again taking the chance to pick a fight with me, and once again he was stopped short by his compatriot.

"Silence you fool. Forgive him, he appears be on edge for some reason. I will answer your question."

The middle entity was now whitening his knuckles in anger towards his fellow councilwoman, but I was too busy focusing on my explanations to care if he had a bone to pick with me or not.

"We have contacted you personally for two reasons. The secondary reason being that as an entity not originally from our world, we were quite curious to examine and see if there were any vital changes from the last one. I assure you your father went through the same process. While we possess all of your medical data, we did not have any visual to go off of. I will say we expected some kind of grotesque mutation, not a glistening example of teenage beauty."

I could feel myself blushing at her compliment, but remained in composure and responded with the generic "thank you".

"Yes, we are rather glad for this, as it reduces the… 'Uneasiness' of our primary need."

"May I ask what that primary reason is, Ma'am?"

There was a dark pause in between our sentences, and she seemed to rush her words, reluctant to say them for whatever reason.

"We spoke earlier of the reasons we would contact individuals. Either for honor, to dispose of a threat, or to induct a new member. Well, we believe that you and your father pose the largest single threat to the World of Remnant than any of the Grimm on this planet, to be plain. As to why, well, I'm sure that the professor has already informed you that your Aura emits an energy so powerful it could induce malignant tumors in anyone within twenty kilometers. Why this is, we cannot say, but we know that it is directly related to what you experienced coming to this world. Your father bears the same affliction. Essentially, you are a walking biological weapon, capable of massive amounts of death and the sterilization of every single living inch around you. Needless to say such a threat cannot be allowed to remain."

Hold on, stop the bullshit train.

"**_Whoa there calm the fuck down lady! What in the hell makes you think that I would even want to do that sort of thing!?"_**

The council remained silent, even the angry one, who twiddled his thumbs, likely waiting for his chance to convict me.

"Miss Clarence, take a look at yourself right now. What do you see?"

The air in the room had grown increasingly cold, causing my hairs to stand on end. When I examined myself, I was in complete shock.

My entire body was blanketed in pure darkness, with wisps of grey protruding from the cloak I unknowingly wore. I couldn't even see my clothes, it was so complete. Only my hands remained untouched. I didn't really feel anything except for the frustration over this accusation. Just that one intense bout of emotion triggered my Aura to this level. _I really was a walking bomb._

Think… What did Yang do to get this to stop?

I tried to wash away the emotions, but they stuck to me like napalm. I couldn't get rid of the feeling. I felt someone grab my shoulder, and I could feel the emotions draining. I looked behind me and saw Ozpin stoically perched behind my field of view.

"This is precisely what we mean! If you were to lose control of your Aura in public, you would sterilize an entire city center! Even now, had the professor not been present to contain your energies, you could have destroyed the entire campus of Beacon! What you are, Miss Clarence, is an abomination that needs to be culled for the safety of the World! I see no difference between you and the Grimm that school hun-"

"YOU WILL CULL YOUR TOUNGUE OR IT WILL BE CUT OUT AND THROWN INTO THE LOWEST DEPTHS OF A SCHNEE MINE. THIS COURT WILL NOT FOLLOW YOUR BRIMSTONE AND HELLFIRE CONVICTIONS, AND THAT IS FINAL! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR, COUNCILMAN?"

The being on the immediate left, who had been silent until now, cried out in rage again the middle man. The rat in the middle subsequently shrunk down, obviously scared of him enough to quiet down. Afterwards, the woman continued.

"Now then, to business. You now know the full consequences of your presence here. What we will discuss next is how to appropriately deal with them. I take **_pleasure_** in notifying you that we have ruled out execution in this case, as we have with your Father. We will not be killing either one of your for something that was thrust upon you beyond your control."

Three of the other five voiced their agreement, with the lone dissenter retaining his composed silence.

"There exist three options that we deem a logical solution to your issue. While the decisions of this Council may be absolute, we may deem it necessary to alter our decision in the future. Everything decided here is mutable in the coming weeks and months, maybe even years."

"I understand. Proceed, Councilwoman."

"Very well. The first option can be considered the most harmful to your everyday life and your overall state of wellbeing. In an effort to ensure that your Aura would never pose a threat to civilization, you would be quarantined to the outer rims of the world, the barren lands that lie beyond any written map. In Remnant, the known world is bordered by fields of ice, deemed impassable by the world's shipping carriers and home to some of the most violent Grimm alive. For this reason, we send death row criminals and exiles there as a means of retribution. Your sentence would be to live out your days there, as many as you could, anyway. As we have stated previously, this option would most likely result in death and/or bloody dismemberment at the hands of Grimm and/or starvation, hypothermia, dehydration, typhoid, cancer…Well, you get the gist."

The tension was so strong in that moment you could cut it with a knife. No one wanted to interject, for fear of adding to the discomfort. Only the continuation of the speech served to end this state of limbo.

"The second option we think you would find much more enjoyable as it had a 99.99% chance of survival associated with it. You would be shipped to Atlas, and live out the life you so willingly described in your identification papers. You would be under heavy guard, of course, and certain functions of your daily life would be limited per our discretion. The area would be remote; so as to ensure a safety buffer between any large populations, but nonetheless your life would be comfortable, for the most part."

"So, what's the glorious final option, pray tell?"

The Council paused oddly, seemingly unknowing of how to tell me the next set of information. Kind of like a kid asking out his first date.

"Well, this one is the most recent to come to the discussion table, and is not even of our origin. While we were unsure as to its validity, as well as the risk of placing you within a large population of people, the option's originator has ensured us that no problems would occur under his supervision. He has never given us reason to doubt, so we put a bit of trust in his corner. Essentially, you would become a full time student under the care of Professor Ozpin. He would have you pursue a career as a Huntress under his personal guidance, and that of some of the school's handpicked elite. Here, instead of hampering your power, you would learn to wield it in a fashion which would benefit the world greatly. Ozpin would believe that your power could be of great use in the future, and would not see it wasted. While we would normally discourage someone without even a lick of combat experience or schooling from attending Beacon, we have also received assurances that you would be able to handle the rigorous training regimen. So now, we ask you this.

Would you be able to keep up witch such a life? Being the one who drives back the darkness instead of adding to it?

Would you better yourself for the sake of bettering your fellow denizen?"

"I…I…Uh…I, suppose I would, madam."

"Well thank God, because you really didn't have much of a choice, now did you? I mean, come one, what kind of imbecile would turn down something like that for a calm, coy life in some Atlan village, or the desolate wastes? Quite an easy decision, if you ask me."

She then pulled out her own personal scroll, and an image of Ozpin appeared on my screen next to the video feed.

"Professor, do you have everything you need?"

"I am quite satisfied madam, and I thank you for your understanding in the matter. Seeing the potential of a possible student wasted in the desolation of the ice is something I would never forgive. I understand that you will forward the documents regarding her keeping momentarily?"

"Of course." She then turned back to me and dismissed Ozpin's image.

"There will be certain guidelines by which you will live by, similar to that of the second option, but hopefully, in time, you will have learned enough to prove to us that you will no longer pose a threat to this world. Until that day comes, we will be watching, Miss Clarence. Never forget, we are the eyes and ears of the world.

**_Veritatem venit lux a tenebris_**

Until we meet again, this Council of Remnant will be closed to all further discussion regarding the circumstances of Rika Clarence.

Gentlemen, meeting adjourned."

And with that, my video feed cut, and I was left groping the air for something to lean on and a swirling head.

"Why is it that every time someone comes to talk to me they have some kind of world shattering revelation to settle with me? Can't anyone just, y'know, walk up and start talking about the weather or something? Would be a nice change of pace form the last week…"

"… Nice weather we're having eh?"

"No, it's been snowing all day and I'm cold as all hell and now I'm just more tied and I swear to God if you do that again I will throw you out the window from where you are sitting."

Dad sat back in his seat, slightly satisfied with himself and slightly disgusted that he could make fun of his daughter while she was obviously conflicted and confused. I didn't blame him though, I knew I was a bit of an asshole when I got annoyed, and I knew I often sprayed out vicious discourse in every which way.

With that same vicious air, I marched over to Ozpin, who was now looking out the window from the balcony, staring intently into the distance. I head the glass pane slide behind me, forming an odd barrier between us and Dad. It seemed that Ozpin wanted a private chat. But, I didn't have it in me to begin yelling at him. The serene calm that he created while he was standing out in the snow was toxic, as I soon forgot about my frustrations and spoke softly to him.

"I know what you did. I know you unlocked my Aura while I was unconscious. Also, you have my thanks for not telling me I was a walking Bio-Bomb. I think I would have done something rash had I figured that out sooner."

He remained silent, almost unknowing of my presence.

"I'm also aware that you set up the meeting with the Council before I even walked into this tower. If they really are what they claim to be, they wouldn't call a meeting together willy-nilly like that. I would need some kind of advance notice. The fact that they already had my papers with them didn't help your secrecy either."

"My dear, everything you have just explained to me is everything I _wanted _you to figure out. That is, as much as I expected you to, at least. Had you peeked a little bit further into the nature of the council as well, you would have found them to be a little bit closer to home than you imagined."

"Well, the one in the middle definitely had a bone to pick with me, and seemed to be especially angered by the fact that I was a Faunus. He spoke like a man convicting somebody, a prosecutor. Then the one next to him shut him down at every turn, acting like my advocate. Honestly, the whole thing stunk of similarity to a courtroom."

"That's because it _is_ a courtroom. Every member of that council acts in a manner befitting its legal role. You have explained to me the Prosecution and the Defense. The man who voiced his distaste for the prosecution's motives was undoubtedly the Judge, the presiding ruler only expressing himself to control the flow of the meeting. The remaining two, who were largely unvoiced, were the acting security guards, capable of carrying out the Council's will, but also able to help dispute it. It might not be the most effective setup for an all-powerful organization, but it works better than you'd imagine. They have settled disputes between nations, races, and more from the shadows since the dawn of civilization. One could compare them to your nation's Supreme Court. However, the prosecutor tends to allow his personal vendettas to bleed into his professional life. As such, the rest of the council has grown weary of his petty quarrels with those he believes to be inferior. The defense usually keeps him in check, so I doubt you need to worry about him too much."

"So, we have two lawyers, a Senator, and two Military men. Easy enough to follow. However, you still have yet to acknowledge my discontent with your actions. Why did you unlock my Aura, when you knew it would manifest in such an uncontrolled manner?"

For the first time since I stepped onto the balcony, he looked me in the eyes and spoke.

"I did it because even though I hardly know anything about what kind of person you really are outside of what _he_ tells me, I trust you. You forget too easily that above all I am a teacher, and a teacher has the innate ability to recognize greatness in his students. He knows when someone he crosses paths with would benefit from instruction, and go on to gain an advantage from said instruction. I activated your Aura because I knew that even if you never even learned to wield a blade, after four years at this school you could blast me into oblivion from ten miles away. The pure power that radiates from your Aura has the potential to do great things, and I would not see that potential wasted on some 'village in Atlas' as the Council would have. Yes, I asked the Council to allow me to be your Guardian because I knew that one day you would go on to free mankind from the darkness which now envelops it. Rika, I want you to be my student not for some convoluted conspiracy, but for the simple betterment of the world, as the Council said."

Such a verbose response made me hesitate, but ultimately I knew he was truthful in what he was saying. It all made sense with what he stood for, with what he was. However, it was the finer details of the agreement that bothered me the most.

"They said there would be restrictions. What exactly would they be?"

"What your father is currently subjected to. Your hours of operation would limit to between 6 AM and 12 PM. You wouldn't be allowed to leave campus without the escort of a qualified official or myself. While on campus, you would be monitored both by staff and by technological implants within your wrist. For sake of ease, I have opted to simply give you a wristlet to keep on you. It would transmit biological and physiological data to the medical staff daily, ensuring your physical health and mental stability to prevent a meltdown. Besides that, your life would ultimately be up to you to live, with no direct contact from any kind of guard unless you actively disregard your limitations. You would be free to live as any other student would here."

"While it may not be the most convenient of deals, I suppose going to a school like this for free wouldn't be so bad, I mean I've always wanted to learn how to fight, but like this, well, it's kind of like a dream come true in a way."

Ozpin scoffed at my response, and began laughing.

"Hey, what's so funny? Is it wrong to have an odd interest or something?"

"No, it's funny that you thought you would go to school for free, that's bloody brilliant indeed!"

Oh… Right.

"I-I don't have any money, how do you expect me to be able to pay for a school like Beacon? Unless I am mistaken this school would cost a pretty penny if it were back home."

"Oh you have no Idea. Let's just say people have been known to sell their homes to send a child to Beacon. But, I doubt you will have that problem, seeing as for the next few years you home will be right here."

"Ok, then let's get to the point here, how am I going to be paying for my school, since I have nowhere to go and nothing really to offer."

"That, my dear Rika, is incorrect. You have something that many would pay millions of Lien to attain; the mind of a Professor. The way you analyze a situation and attain key facts, deconstruct information, and process your emotions is beyond your years. That, I believe, is worth more than twenty years here at Beacon in Lien. So, I want you to do exactly what you do naturally. I want to be a Professor here at beacon in your off time."

"… Ozpin honey you have you be shitting me."

"Not in the slightest. You have until the end of the winter vacation to determine your subject material, your course plans, and your student guidelines. Beyond that, the class will be entirely in your care for the remainder of the year. Your performance will be assessed at the end of the year during exams, and we will decide further action from there."

"WOAH THERE TIME OUT!"

….

"Well, I'm waiting. This time out has been quite long don't you think?"

…

"Okay, let me get my head around all of this. I was recently contacted by the most powerful organization on the planet, and told that from today forward I am to be a student at Beacon academy, and with no combat training whatsoever I will learn to be a Huntress beside men and women that have spent their entire lives to get where I got in about two weeks. Not only that, but I will also be a professor, teaching the people I go to classes with whenever I get a spare moment in my free time to pay for tuition do I have all of that correct!?"

"I'd say so. Oh, and one final thing! You will be bunking with team RWBY. They will serve as your de-facto teammates and teachers, and you will be the team's 'intern' of sorts in exchange. They will be more than willing to oblige, I believe. And, should they refuse, I'm sure a little bit of extra credit will be more than enough to coax them into helping. I will instruct Yang to get you comfortable in the dorms tonight before the team return with the rest of the student body after break. Well, I do believe you have been asked enough for one day. You are dismissed as of now, I suggest you get some rest. I will send the documentation for your classes tomorrow, as well as your student uniform. For your instruction periods, you may dress however you please, but please be within reason, if I may ask."

"Whoa there Professor, don't you think you are kind of rushing this a little bit? I'm not even sure I got all of that completely!"

He opened the glass and stepped through again, beckoning me forward.

"You don't need to. What you need to 'get' is that you are now my student, and I can tell you to do whatever I want. As such, I am telling you politely to get out largely because I need to use the restroom and partly because I tire of droning on like this. Now, if you would be so kind, I will have Glynda call the elevator, you and Lawrence may leave now. I will be in touch."

He seemed to be ushering me towards the door, and Goodwitch soon after opened it, standing aside while Ozpin pushed me and my father out of the room. The door slammed behind us, and I heard Ozpin running off in another direction, probably towards his bathroom. That left us sitting there bewildered and confused, not sure whether to leave or wait for him to come back and give a more detailed explanation.

"Geez, he seemed a bit rushed, don't you think?"

"Never misunderstand a man in need of a piss. He says strange things, as you know too well. Besides, Ozpin might be vague, but in the time I've known him, he hasn't kept many secrets from me, and I doubt he would keep any from you. For some reason he thinks you to be someone worth investing in, so he will do his best to keep you both safe and well informed. I can nearly guarantee you that."

From what I had seen of Ozpin, he was usually very open with students when it came to rather confidential information; at least to the students he believed could handle themselves. If he really thought of me in that way, who was I to complain? It was better to be thought a genius like that than to open my mouth and prove otherwise; for a while at least.

"Well, aside from being kicked out for Ozpin's pee break, what else did he tell you? I couldn't really gather much, since neither of you really did anything but talk while you were out there."

"Well, for starters, he went off on a shpeal about me being the best student he has ever seen, and rounded it off by declaring me a professor here to pay for my tuition fees, to summarize all of that talking."

My dad was caught somewhere between laughter and stroke for a good while after that. I couldn't tell whether it was positive or negative, but it was positively disturbing to watch. After a while, I simply grabbed onto his wheelchair and guided him into the elevator. I pushed the button and initiated our descent, while attempting to calm Dad down a little.

"Boy, he's really gone off the deep end if he thinks you be a student and a teacher at the same time. If I remember correctly, you could barely handle studying for a test without stressing out about it."

I shook my head. "Things have changed a lot in two years. Sure, my grades went down a little, but I've stopped worrying so much about school. I started doing other things instead of homework, and I rather enjoyed not having to work 24/7."

"So what you're saying is you would be able to handle it?"

"It will take some dedicated studying and time management, but yes, I will be able to handle it. I refuse to let this chance go, and something like homework will be a minor obstacle. And, on the bright side, I get to boss around my friends when they come to my class! Good opportunity to get some leverage, if I say so."

"Don't get labeled a bitch in the meantime. No one wants to be friends with someone who will give them extra homework if they cross them."

"Aye, Aye, I hear 'ya. It's not like it's a dictatorship, anyways. I think I'm gonna pick a subject more on the elective side, not academic entirely but still rather educational."

The door opened, and we strolled (and rolled) out of the cabin. I paused at the door and remembered that I had to call Yang when I was finished with the meeting.

"Well, as much as I'd love to keep on going with you, I'm afraid I have a bio scan to go to. Can't be late again or they might sent a squad to wipe me out or something. Take care love, I'll see you tomorrow, and you can tell me everything that's happened while I was gone over lunch, my treat. Meet me in the Mess Hall around noon, and I'll be waiting. Come 'ere, give your old man a hug, before I go."

I smiled, kneeled down, and met his arms for a moment or two, keen on refreshing my memory of his scent before I let go. It had been a long time since I felt him in the flesh, and I needed to rebuild my sensory memory in case he was ever taken from me again. I was scared of forgetting him more than anything else, and I was keen on ensuring I never would.

"Take it easy papa bear; I'll see you tomorrow, like you said. Don't go leaving on me now that I just got here, got it?"

He began to accelerate towards the door, and looked back on his way out.

"I can assure you, I will never break another promise again. I will not cause you the same pain I did all that time ago. I will never, ever, cause that kind of bitter sadness again, I swear it."

Saying no more, he proceeded out the door, maintaining his learned poker face, almost looking like he was ready for a business meeting.

After he was gone from sight, I pulled out my scroll and dialed in Yang's number. The tone rang for a few beats, but nothing responded to my call. It was quite convenient that she happened to walk in the door as soon as I hung up.

"Hey there stranger! How'd it go? Any exciting stories to share?"

"Maybe later, right now I just want to go lie down somewhere. The past hour has been quite exciting, and I'm feeling exhausted."

"Hey, no worries, I got you covered. El Casa del RWBY is open to you from today onwards, according to our dear headmaster! And I heard you got accepted into Beacon! Congrats, especially since you, y'know never really fought anyone before. Doing that is kind of a big deal. Weiss is going to have a fit when she hears about that."

"Yeah, she will, especially when she hears about everything else. But, that conversation I for another day. For now, I just want to rest. By the way, where is Ruby?"

"Oh, she's waiting outside. I told her I'd be a minute. So, you ready to go meet your new home?"

Home, that word again. That thing that has been redefined for me so rapidly over the last week. The thing that, even though everything is different, feels so refreshing and new. That special thing I have rediscovered.

"Yeah… I am. Let's go."

"By the way, you see that old coot rolling out a minute ago? He looked pretty beaten down. I've seen him around before, but I never can figure out who he was. You know him?"

"Yeah, pretty well actually. That 'old coot' is my Dad."

* * *

"WHAT?! HOW CAN THER BE NO SUCH THING AS MECHA SHIFTS WHERE YOU COME FROM? HOW ON REMNANT DOES ANYTHING GET MADE THERE?!"\

Ruby's generally astonished tone echoed through the dorm hallways as we approached the room. I had been busy explaining to the red haired ball of energy after our speedy introduction that there weren't weapons like theirs on Earth, and people had to choose between a blade or a gun, not being able to combine them.

"Honestly, does nobody in your world have a brain? Using mecha shifts to combine blades and guns is elementary. I was making gun-blades on my own when I was ten!"

Yang chose to finally mediate the conversation. "Well, not everyone has the mind of a master engineer either, Rubes. It might be easy for you, but we mechanically disinclined people simply can't follow you when you go off about sprockets and gears."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make! What I was saying is that Rika here has never gotten to experience a true weapon! Oh, I am SO designing you a proper Grimm-Killer. Tomorrow, we are gonna sit down and have a LOOOOOOONG chat about your weapon preferences. You hear me?"

"Yeah, Yeah, I got it. Hey Yang, how much further until I get to crash? I'm burning out really fast here."

"Not long, considering we just arrived!" She handed me a keycard, and presented the door in a Vanna White fashion.

"Go ahead; open the door to your new room!"

I swiped the key, and pushed, similarly to a hotel room. The room itself was rather large for a student dorm, comprising as much space as my home's upper floor. It was spacious, but most of the items in the room were gathered around the window, save for a few desks and bookshelves. Instead of the bookshelf in front of the window that I remembered, however, there was a fifth bed placed between two sets of bunk beds, hastily constructed and poorly assembled, but surprisingly sturdy, upon examination.

"You guys, you didn't have to upheave your room's setup just for me. Having a bed off in the corner wouldn't have been all that big of a deal."

"Nope! So long as you live and breathe with Team RWBY, you are one of us, and that mean you sleep with us too! What kind of mentors would we be if we shunned the newbie to the corner?"

Ruby stepped forward, and executed her "leader stance" with her hands on her hips, looking triumphant. Somehow, her cape was flapping softly, despite the lack of a breeze in the room.

"Aww, Ruby, that's very kind of you. I'm also supposed that you got this assembled so quickly. I mean, I just got accepted an hour ago, and you were at the training fields, weren't you?"

"Well, Ozpin kind of told us that you were coming a week ago, so it has been like this for a while now, especially since we had to get the rugs replaced."

"Wait, why did yo-… Oh, right. Eh, sorry about that again. I know I kind of, blew up your room…"

"Hey, no harm done. If anything, we would blame Ozpin, not you. Besides, the rug was old anyway, it needed to get replaced."

I looked around the room one more time, in a full 360 motion, until my eyes finally grew heavy upon returning my gaze to the soft bed before me. It did look quite comfortable and clean, almost begging me to drop dead onto it.

"Well, now that we have all of this settled, I do think it's time for me to get some shuteye. Good night guys."

With that simple closure, I flopped onto the top of the bed, still with my boots on, not even bothering to draw the covers. I was passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow. I barely even heard the blissfully unaware comment from Ruby pass by my ears before I lost my senses.

"Gee, you would think she just had a lunch date with a dead guy or something. She looks beat."

You really have no idea…

* * *

_**Wow, this chapter has been in the making for a long time, eh? I had a lot of details to smooth out, so it took a while, sorry mates. Anyway, next chapter officially begins Rika's new life at Beacon. And, for the record, I know a lot of people have been doing Monty Oum memorials in their Author notes or whatever, but that feels too superficial. He would have wanted us to make something creative to remember him, so that is what I intend to do. I will make his memorial into art with my keyboard, a shining example of his motto; 'Keep Moving Forward'. I know Monty has touched my creative side in more ways than one, so will make it known the extent to which he inspired me to make this.**_

_**And so, I bid good day**_

_**From the desk of Professor Rika Clarence, with love**_


	7. Chapter 6

Oh, sleep. How your tantalizing grip is constantly within reach, but forever finite. How I long to remain with you for simply another moment longer, each and every day.

If only a certain someone by the name of Ruby Rose did not feel inclined to tear me away from you before the sun had even began to rise. If only I could stay longer. I could hear her whispering in my ears, but to me it was more akin to yelling.

"Oh, come on you big lug. Today is your first day at Beacon for real; you can't be in bed all day… I KNOW THOSE BIG EARS ARENT JUST FOR LOOKS, AND I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME SO WAKE UP ALREADY!"

Slowly, but surely, I came to meet my crimson tormentor in the eye, the beast hovering next to me already fully dressed in her scarlet hued combat skirt and boots. How some people were able to rush so quickly into their days was beyond me.

"You know, just because I can use them doesn't mean you should try to blow them out. They _are_ kind of sensitive. But, at any rate, now that my senses have been shocked into motion, I'm awake. What is it you needed, little rose?"

She looked at me with a kind of agitated grin, likely not pleased with being called little, but continued nonetheless. "Well, if I am not mistaken, you promised to have a long chat with me today about your weapon preferences. I planned to take you to breakfast and then get right to it! Whaddya say?"

"_Jævla helvete_ woman, I can barely sit up. Can I get, oh I don't know, another hour or so of sleep so I don't fall off a cliff on the way to the hall or something? I'm kind of tired here…"

"Wait a minute, what did you just say? Either you invented a new word, or it's another language entirely! Which is it?"

"Norwegian. It's a dialect from Norway, a country in the north of Earth. Cold, lots of fish, tons of money from Oil exports, best quality of life in the world. I picked up some of it when I was watching videos from a Norwegian guy I liked."

"Nor…Way… Wow, your home has some pretty weird places in it… Here, I have a proposition; you teach me some of this _Norwegian_ over the end of break, and I'll give you another hour to sleep."

My eyes lit up, and I was pretty sure my tail was wagging a little under my covers.

"That my dear is the single best business deal you will ever make. Consider it done."

I hastily grabbed her hand, violently shook it, and then pulled the covers back over my head.

I was keen to not waste the time until I was forcibly torn from sleep yet again.

* * *

"Hey! Your time is up! Now it's your turn to keep your promise, up and Adam you!"

I don't think I was fully aware of the fact that Ruby was lifting me into the air from my bed until we were halfway across the room. I was even less aware of the fact that she was leading me towards the sound of water. It wasn't until the icy stream hit me in the face that I was fully lucid.

I turned to look at Ruby through my drenched bangs, only to see her gleefully smiling. I initiated a low growl in her direction, which caused her to back away slightly. To be honest, I wasn't fully aware I could even _do_ that and make it sound akin to that of a wolf. It was kind of eerie to hear that guttural growl coming from my throat.

"Easy there, nice wolfy…"

Well, great, now she thinks I'm ready to attack her or something. I'd have to make sure to keep tabs on my more bestial side.

"Oh please, I'm not _that_ primal. Sure, it's gonna take a while to fully acclimate myself to being half-wolf, but I doubt I'll be howling in the night or anything like that."

Her stance relaxed a bit, and she started giggling uncontrollably.

"You know, looking at you now, you kind of remind me of Blake, in a way. She acts like her Faunus side sometimes too. She likes Tuna, she is quiet as anything, and she always acts so weird when Zwei is around…"

"Speaking of which, where is that little bit of cannon fodder? I imagined he would be around here somewhere."

Ruby sighed slightly. "He has to stay in the kennels on campus when we're on vacations. It's stupid, but since they found out he was virtually _anything_ proof, they were afraid we'd use him to tear down the campus or something. So, when less than three staff members are on campus, Zwei stays in the kennel. He'll be back when classes start. I'm sure you'll love him, he likes people a lot!"

"Yeah, I'm sure I will." I began to shiver as the cold water soaked into my shirt. "Anyways, can I get my shower now? I'm kind of cold here."

"Oh, right! Sorry, forgot about that. I'll be outside when you're done, and then we'll head to breakfast."

"What about the slumber queen over there?" I gestured to Yang, snoring loudly through the bathroom door.

"Oh, she'll catch up eventually. When she _does_ wake, she usually stays responsive until the night."

"Right then, I'll see you in a bit."

She waved silently, and hopped out of the room, granting me the privacy to strip out of my freezing clothes and turn on the hot water in the shower. While I wasn't sure what I was going to be wearing for the rest of the day while my clothes dried, I didn't really care. I was now in the warm embrace of the water, and nothing could faze me. I sat down on a conveniently placed shelf behind me and looked for something to clean myself with. I considered using some of Yang (presumably) expensive hair products, but instead opted to wash myself with the cheaper looking soap in the opposite wall. It blandly smelled, but it didn't bother me much, so I took the chance to finally clean my tail. The hairs had been getting oily and clumped together, so I took the time to thoroughly clean it. My acne had been flaring up as well, so I looked around, lucky enough to find some medicated soap to wash it with as well. Eventually I would contribute my own soap to the collection, but today was sort of an adventure in soap testing with my roommates' supply.

After what felt like a good while I hastily cleansed my hair and ears, then rinsed and dried. Only when I reached for the handle of the door did I feel apprehension for going outside in a towel. It was only then that I noticed my wet clothes were not in the room anymore. Ruby had probably came in and gotten them to go in the laundry or something.

"Oi, Ruby, you there? I need some clothes, care to help a brother out?"

"Sure, let me find something… oh! Here we go. Coming!"

I heard her buoyant footsteps approach the door and crack it open slightly, shoving a checkered skirt and jacket between the panels.

"Sorry, this was all I could find, but the rest is somewhere in the bag the Professor dropped off."

"No, this is fine; I'll just go looking for the rest, thanks."

I took the two articles from her, and examined them. I had in my hands a brown and gold checkered skirt, and a blazer of a similar color. I saw a symbol of what looked to be some kind of torch on the right chest, and I instantly recognized it as the symbol of Beacon.

"So, I have to prance around all day in my uniform then? So be it, until I can find out where Yang stashed my bags."

It was just then I heard some dampened shuffling from the other side of the door, and heard Yang whispering as well.

"Shhh, this will be great! I'll take a really dirty photo of her now, so that way when she does something stupid, like I know she will, I'll have something to pull on her. I always think of the best plans… Don't worry Rubes, you can get in on it too. I'm pretty sure this is a familial agreement here."

Not even a full day and they already want to Blackmail me? It seemed that my teammates were already trying to get some dirt on me as leverage. I needed a counter plan then. I was almost going to let my guard down, when I was sharing a room with the school's resident Queen of Trolling.

Plan: Run out, flourish the towel so their shot gets ruined, and grab the camera? Solid idea

I quickly buttoned the skirt to my waist, not worrying about my tail for the meantime, trapped below the fabric uncomfortably. There was a hole tailored into the skirt for it, but I was not granted the luxury of time at the moment. I placed the blazer over my shoulders in a similarly hasty fashion, careful to button up the front so as to cover as much of my chest as I could. Sadly, the blazer was cropped to only go to the midsection, leaving my breasts wide open for her porn shots.

'Guess I need to be quick then' I had to act fast, or else they would get suspicious and come in to get their nudes themselves.

I gripped the doorknob in one hand and the tower in another, initiating a mental countdown.

3…2…1…

GO

I violently threw open the door, and sprinted out as fast as I could, chucking the towel in front of me as I went. I caught a quick glance of Yang's surprised mug as the towel obstructed her view, and I adopted a slight grin.

Good, now that her shot is a bust, time to get that camera.

I made a mad dash ahead of the towel as it finally fluttered to the floor, running full speed into Yang in the process, and causing the camera in her hands to fly out of them, sailing cross the room, where, luckily, Ruby caught it.

Luckily, or so I thought. She instantly aimed the device and snapped a picture of me then and there. Sitting upright, with nothing covering my chest, and woefully unaware of the bumbling yellow idiot spread out underneath me in a rather lewd position I needn't describe.

"My, my, this is quite a predicament for two students to be caught in, wouldn't you agree, my dear sister Yang? It would be such a _shame_ if Weiss happened to find this under her pillow when she wanders back into the dorm at the end of break…"

Yang suddenly shot out from under me, leaving me flat on my back and a little dazed as well. She approached Ruby as a slave would a master, on all fours, groveling at her feet.

"P-please, Ruby, let's be reasonable here, I don't think you really would do that… would you?"

"That, and more, sweet Yang. Unless, however, I would be allowed, oh, I don't know, first dibs on the shower for the rest of next semester?"

Yang let out a groan more powerful than I have heard her release. "But, I need first shower so my hair reaches maximum volume! Without my proper appropriation of hot water, my beautiful locks will crumble into Oblivion!"

Ruby smeared on the most devilish look imaginable as she spoke again. I could tell she didn't get to torture Yang much, but when she did, she worked to get even. Even so, it was something I never hoped to witness again, she had me cowering in the corner next to Yang.

"Oh, don't worry your little head. You will be just fine. Besides, you'll need to be ready for when I get out of the shower, because I expect breakfast to be waiting for me when I get out."

"But…but…You wake up at 5 every day, right?"

"Indeed, I do. Also, my showers are known to be extraordinarily short. So, I'd say you would need to be up by, oh, I don't know, 4:30, at least, to be ready by then. Oh, and don't even _think_ about trying to slip into the shower before I wake up. If you do, this beauty of a moment gets smeared all over the Beacon net page!"

If there was a time for Yang to give up on life, it as then. She sunk to Ruby's heels, and stayed there long after she began walking towards me. What she had in store for me, I was scared to think.

"As for _you_, well…. I'm not really sure yet. I don't know much about my new roommate, so I think I'll just leave your tribute a wildcard… Yes, I like that! Ever-changing, and ever present, your sacrifice to the beautiful Reaper Goddess Ruby will be a glorious one!"

"…Ruby, are you ok?"

She giggled a little, secretively, and leaned down and whispered to me. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't get to one up Yang much, so I always get a little carried away when she messes up like this. And don't worry about the whole 'tribute' thing too much, if I can think of something I'll let you know." She straightened up, and turned back to Yang.

"In the meantime, we shall go to the mess hall, and discuss your future. Yang, try not to get into any more trouble, ok?"

Ruby walked over to the large closet, and walked inside.

"C'mon, Rika, your clothes are in here, with everyone else's."

I stood up and cautiously walked over to the large door next to the bathroom. When I peered inside, a large walk-in closet greeted me.

"We put all of your clothes in here last night after you crashed. Everyone has their own section, and a cubicle for dressing. Don't worry about laundry either, the cleaners come in each morning during classes and get everything. It's all retuned by the time we go to sleep, so we almost always have something to wear."

"So, the mystery of wearing the same outfit every day is finally solved, eh? Wouldn't all the fan boys back home love to see this? Quite efficient, I must say."

"Well, when your Combat Skirt costs a few thousand Lien to repair each time it gets stained or torn, having an overactive cleaning department is kind of a plus."

I walked into the back corner, and located my personal cabinet. In it, all of the items I purchased yesterday were present, along with the remainder of my school uniform.

When I examined the area further, I found what looked to be a mannequin of some sorts, with an outfit hanging on it.

It was the most glorious design I had ever seen. Grey, military style boots and slate hued cargo pants adorned the bottom. The material seemed to bend and alter with the light, so was ultimately difficult to pin the material pattern. However, I noticed they lacked the distinctive assortment of leg pockets classically on cargo pants. Just above the pants was a nylon belt, secured by a plain metal socket, nothing fancy, save for a few notches in the side, likely for carrying items on. Above that were a thick turtleneck shirt, and a matching jacket with the body cut to about a few inches below the chest. They paired with the pants, and together formed some kind of variable camo pattern, always changing based on what angle I looked at them from. It reminded me of a special operations uniform from the military, simple yet exceedingly functional.

I was eager to try it on, and see how it fit. I scrounged around my cabinet for some underwear, and then eagerly pried the outfit off of the posts. When I tried everything, it was all perfectly sized to my dimensions. The material was somewhat stretchable, but not elastic either. It was flexible, and allowed me full motion while remaining covered and looking rather stylish. I walked out of the closet feeling powerful, and quite warm compared to earlier.

"Oh my Oum, you are soooo lucky Rika! I would dream of having my combat skirt made out of Octo-Wool! That stuff is really expensive, even Weiss would have a hard time getting her hands on a roll of it! The professor must really believe in you if he went as far as to make your whole outfit out if it!"

She ran up to me, and looked intently at my neck for a minute, as if looking for something.

"Oh! Here, on the neck, there is a little diode. Push it, you'll see something happen!"

I reached to my neck, and pushed the little lump, like she told me to, and I heard an audible click come from it. When I looked at myself, I was shocked to see it change colors completely. Instead of the environmentally adapting state it had adopted before, the material now sat in one solid color. The boots were tinted grey, like before, and the pants were colored a similar shade. The turtleneck shared the same slate grey, and the jacket was a deep black, with the edges rimmed in gold.

"Ooh, I like the colors, Earth colors really suit your features. Well, now that you're all settled, let's get to breakfast, shall we, I'm getting pretty hungry."

My own stomach erupted in agreement at her eagerness to get moving, and I suddenly felt my own pangs of hunger. My craving for good meat had been growing near ravenous over the last few days, and I was eager to see what the Beacon kitchen could do with some sausage and beef patties for a breakfast menu.

"I'll second that. Come on, let's get going, and don't want to keep our stomachs waiting. Bye Yang, hope you recover before I get back later."

I was answered by some kind of unintelligible groan coming from Yang's general location that signified she was at least still breathing.

"She'll be fine, I assume. Now then…Where exactly is the Mess Hall again?"

* * *

"OHMYGODTHISBEEFSAUSAGEISFANFUCKINGTASTICWHYHAVEINOTEXPERIENCEDTHISBEFOREIFELLLIKEIMINMEATHEAVENICOULDDIENOWAHAPYWOMANIDONTHAVETHEMENTALFORTITUDETOSURVIVETHISITSSIMPLYTOOSURREAL!"

Needless to say, the meat was good. I was greeted in the vastly empty hall with varying assortment of aromas, all alluding to a different dish. I sprinted past Ruby and found myself amidst a buffet of which I had never seen before. I immediately loaded a nearby tray with every kind of meat and bread I could find, eager to explore everything. I ended up scaring the staff behind the counter into forking over another tray, and loaded it similarly. When I returned, I was completely lost among the flavors. Despite being a school dedicated to combat, Beacon could easily sellout its Mess Hall and make millions, for the food was simply heavenly; that or I hadn't eaten anything proper in almost two weeks.

"Sure, the food is good, but I think you're supposed to actually _eat_ the food instead of inhaling it…." She looked at me with a very worried face, but I quickly dismissed her claims.

"Noh whey, noff in a biwion yerfs woud I inha my foof. Sey, gof any mulk?"

"Sorry, what? I don't speak food monster."

I swallowed the myriad of items within my mouth before attempting to ask her again. "Got any Milk?"

She handed it to me, and I chugged it just as quickly as I ate. The regimented meals in the Hospital were so busy being healthy that they didn't bother to pack any flavor. Now, on the other hand, I was ingesting meals fit for Olympic athletes, or students training to slay creatures thirty times their size; either one could fit the picture. Besides, from the mental image I had of the kind of training I would need to put in to get up to snuff with everybody else, I had a feeling a little extra fat wouldn't exactly hurt me.

"So, before you go back to becoming a living Vacuum, I think it's time we talk about your fighting experiences."

"You mean the 'experiences' that I don't have? Not much to say. Back home, there wasn't really a need for people to go into combat school like this. The common military could handle anything the world threw at us, and if things got really bad, we had WMDs to control things."

She tilted her head, puzzled at the abbreviation. "What are those? They sound pretty intimidating from the way you describe them."

"Weapons of Mass Destruction, chemically and physically engineered to disintegrate anything within a given radius from impact, launched from an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, and able to frighten three generations of people into subordination from halfway across the globe. You guys don't have anything like that here"

She shook her head lightly, "No, we don't. Anything like that would have been outlawed under the Treaties of Termination. After every major war, a Treaty of Termination is signed, outlawing the greatest threat from the previous war from ever being used again. The last major war, thirty years ago, was big on chemical weapons and missiles. Now, they can never be used again. That's why hunters have been on the rebound recently, since people are getting pretty anxious about not having some kind of buffer against the Grimm."

"Well, I can imagine their fear, totally. But, at the same time, it would be nice to know you would never be surprised nuked in your sleep, wiping out a hundred square kilometers in half a second."

I could see Ruby shiver in her seat, then look to the table. "Well, I don't envy you there either."

"…Well, glad that topic is done with! On to more happy things, if you please! Let's talk about guns or something else interesting."

"Oh, ok! Now then, what kind of gun do you have the most experience with?"

I pondered my answer a moment. I had used shotguns before, but never seriously. Handguns would probably be the safest answer, I've been using them since I was little, and assault weapons were banned for Civilians.

"Probably a pistol; Easy to carry, easy to use, and easy to hide."

Ruby pulled a notepad out from her pack and began scribbling her engineering code onto it. I couldn't understand any of it, but hopefully it would be put into layman's terms eventually.

"Now, what kind of weapon do you think you would be able to use the most _effectively_?"

"I was into the whole wilderness thing too, so I think small blades, like daggers and short swords would be my forte. Light, easy to swing and quick too."

"Alright, easy enough, just need to compensate for the small leverage ballasts by upgrading the force capacitor and the materials…"

Once again, she scribbled onto her design book, creating what I suspected she saw as her duty.

While she sat and thought, I quickly finished my meal, happily sitting there digesting my gluttonous heap of calories, tail lightly swinging in delight.

"Ok, I think I have something in mind. If the practical's go well for you, I'll have it done before the end of break, so you get some time to practice with it."

"I assume that by 'practical's' you mean me trying out different things to see what works best, and what doesn't?"

A quick nod and the rapid collection of various sketching sounds was my answer. I sat there and watched Ruby work, and it was truly amazing to see the alacrity in which she carried out her designing. Of course, I wasn't actually allowed to see any of it, since she deemed it a "surprise gift for her new roommate", but I could easily distinguish her style through the complete focus she presented, which was unusual for someone as spontaneous as Ruby to exhibit.

When she had finally packed her tools away, she guided me out of the now slightly-more crowded Hall and towards the training greens I had seen the previous night.

"Alright, since you don't exactly know what you are doing with any of these things, I programmed your training bots to the lowest level, just to allow you some breathing room. Oh, and before I forget, the Headmaster instructed me to tell you not to use your Aura offensively just yet. I think he has other plans for that, and besides, today is all about your martial technique, and discovering your strengths."

She jumped away from the entrance to an open arena and operated a small panel on its boundary. The ring was largely open, overlooking a cliff on the school's more sunny side. The morning air was crisp and clean, and I was all the more grateful that the Octo-wool outfit I was wearing was this warm. The thermostat was easily below freezing, but everything that was covered felt warm, nonetheless.

"Ok, the simulation is all set to go, all that's left is for you to pick a weapon and start whacking. I got some laid out over there, go have a peek!"

She pointed towards the opposite corner of the ring, and I jogged over to see my options. Laid out on some crates were the following; a large barbed club, a traditional battle-axe, some throwing daggers, classic sword and shields, a thick dagger, and a spear or two. Next to that was a weapons cache containing the staple gun types and some ammunition. Deciding to take it slow and simple, I outfitted myself with a plain repeated pistol and the larger looking knife, similar to a Bowie blade. In this moment, I was rather grateful for the pockets in my pants, easily able to carry ten magazines of ammo. The pistol was hefty, but not unwieldy, and felt good in my hand.

"Ruby, I think I'm all set for round one, start the fight." It was quite a long distance from me to her, so I had to shout a little foe her to hear me.

"Okay, first set it coming out in ten seconds!"

I took a few deep breaths, and tried to calm my accelerating heart. I would be fine, of course, but it was still exciting to finally be able to fight something without having to go to a gym to it! I double checked my gun's clips and the knife, held inverted in my left hand, blade facing out. I wasn't exactly sure if this method was proper, but I had seen lots of people do it in a fight, and it felt more practical that way anyhow. I spread my feet, collected my thoughts, and kept an eye out for the first target.

_There, to the left!_ A metal exoskeleton materialized not far from me, and I decided to use the pistol first. I bent my left arm, and placed my gun hand over it to stabilize my aim, aiming for the chest. I pulled the trigger, and a louder blast than I expected assaulted my now sensitive ears. They rang long after the trigger was pulled, but from what I was the bullet was aimed true, and a rather large hole appeared in the bot's chest. It sank to the ground, and fizzed into oblivion.

"Ok, first one down, where's the next one?"

I didn't need to look far, as another quickly fazed in behind me, not more than five feet. I jumped back, blasted its lower body twice, and charged in for a good stab. Up close, it looked kind of feeble, but I didn't really care in the moment. I slashed upwards at its torso, creating a large gash in it, nearly cleaving it into two pieces.

"Holy shit, I didn't quite expect that. One of two things is stronger than it appears; me or this blade, but I'm not quite sure which one it is."

"WOOOOO! GOOO RIKA! SHOW THOSE BOTS WHO YOU ARE!"

Ruby gleefully cheered behind the entrance, clapping and dancing in my name.

Two more appeared farther away, and I was quicker on the draw this time. I pulled the gun up, and quickly blasted off a few shots. The weapon had more recoil than I thought, requiring me to adjust my aim frequently, but after a few shots the things fell. I reached for another clip, but fumbled with the mechanism for a while, as it was a design I was unfamiliar with. This allowed a bot to appear in front of me and get an advantage. He took a good swing at me, nearly clipping me in the cheek, but luckily I was able to duck and slice his chest with the Bowie. He was cleaved cleanly in two, and faded out all the same as the others.

A large buzzer overhead signaled the round's end, and I sat down in place on the grass. It was quick, but it was heart-pounding excitement.

Ruby came running up to me, eager to spread her shared excitement.

"Hey, that was beautiful! I thought you told me you didn't have any experience with this sort of thing? You have the instincts; totally, the only thing that lacks is your technique."

"Really? I hope it wasn't so bad you had to come here and make up excuses to praise me. I mean, I had a friend who was in the military, and I picked up on things people did in videogames, and such, but I never expected it to actually work in real life…"

"Hey, videogames are actually pretty good teachers, especially war games. Half of the things they do are based on real life military tactics, so don't feel so bad about yourself, for someone who has never felt the adrenaline of battle before, you composed yourself pretty well. Ready for something more challenging?"

"Sure, I can take a little more heat."

"Ok, major change this time; the bots will actively rush you when they spawn and will try their hardest to dodge your attacks, so make sure you focus your aim."

"Ok, got it, load up round two, commander."

I resumed my stance, and the buzzer rang out once more. This time, three bots spawned almost instantly, shocking me for a second before I acted. I pulled my pistol and fired, but they all sidestepped my shots rather easily before dashing towards me. They ran remarkably fast, not allowing me the time I needed to fumble with the reloading mechanism again. I had to quickly lash out at one as it got too close, but even that slash missed. One of the bots grabbed my right arm, trying to get a grip on my pistol, but I quickly shifted my weight away from it, throwing it to the ground, followed by a hard stab into its skull. The other two backed off slightly, but not for long and subsequently resumed their assault on me. I managed to dodge a kick from one of them, but I wasn't fast enough to duck under a punch from one of them, earning myself a nice jab to the nose. It was an odd experience though; I was expecting some kind of pain or sensual disturbance, but instead I was greeted with only pressure on my nose and a flash of grey along my body's outline.

_My Aura, of course._ I had almost forgotten about it, but was glad I didn't need to actively keep it up in order to not take damage. In this time, I received another hook in my ribs, with a similar effect. I followed it up with punch of my own, which threw Bot#2 off balance, granting me time to slash away its arms, and deal with #1. Instead of waiting for it to go on the offensive, I took the initiative myself, pouncing at it from a near-crouching stance and landing on top of it. I quickly beheaded it with the bladed edge of my knife, and turned back to the last remaining threat. It had already risen, however, and stood right behind me, timing a powerful roundhouse with the turn of my head, causing a few vertebrae in my neck to crack as well. After wards, it turned and fled, going back to a safe distance while I recovered, likely weighing in its option for attack. It could still run, but not punch, severely limiting its offenses. I stuck my leg out in front of its charge, tripping it, and allowing me to run a gash along its back, severing its spine, ending its existence and the round.

I felt tired after this round, likely due to the exertion on my aura, however slight it was, in addition to a large ache in my nose now being present. I saw Ruby at my side, and quickly wondered how she got there so fast before remembering her semblance. However, I couldn't stand up to meet her, as my legs lacked the proper strength.

"Hey cap'n, how'd I do? Still rookie level or am I pro yet?" I tried to force out a chuckle, but I was still out of breath.

"Rika, are you ok? I wasn't expecting you to take that many hits so quickly, I'm so sorry, I should have dialed back the bots a bit, I was pushing you too far…"

"Hey, who said anything about pushing me too far? I'm just fine, I didn't even feel anything." (Lies) "Believe it or not, my Aura is pretty strong, according to the Professor. I can take a few hits, no sweat!"

My voice was steadily getting weaker as I spoke, and suddenly I didn't want to speak anymore. It was just then I noticed the profuse amount of blood coming from my nose, leaking across my face and hitting the ground in a fluent stream. I suddenly felt like I wanted to go to sleep, and the dripping stopped, followed by a small flash of my Aura against my skin, once again, this time likely healing my nose bleed instead of blocking a hit.

"No, but I completely forgot your Aura was freshly awakened, and that it can't take many hits until it's been conditioned, otherwise you get small seizures like that. Hunters take years to train their Auras to take massive hits without it taxing their body too much. When your Aura is first unlocked, it can barely take a hit from anything without your body treating it like an internal wound. It was reckless of me to allow you to fight the bots when you can't take a hit yet. I am so sorry Rika; you could have been really hurt just now…"

I looked to my side to see Ruby on her knees next to me, looking quite pale, and altogether panicked. It shook me to no end seeing her like this, so I did what any man/woman hybrid would do; I crawled over to her, and held her gently, speaking gently into her ear.

"Hey, I'm not a marshmallow, and I'm not some little spoiled rich kid either. I don't want you to be so hard on yourself, not even for my sake, and I ESPECIALLY wouldn't blame you if I got hurt. Being a Hunter is all about knowing the risks, and I have every idea of what I'm doing when I came here. Now, just to prove a point, I want you to do something for me."

I stood up from where we were kneeling, pulling Ruby up with me. She still looked a bit shaken, but she didn't look to be on the verge of tears anymore.

"Ok, what is it?"

"I want you to pull out Crescent Rose for me, in scythe form if you would be so kind." I stepped back, allowing her to pull it out in a large flourish of steel, and then implant it in the sod at our feet.

"Do you have any low caliber ammunition on you right now?"

"Y-yeah, I brought some with me in case you wanted to spar…"

"Good, I want you to load it into the gun."

She ejected her main box of rounds, clipping in her training ammo, and cocking the large mechanism. It had never occurred to me until now that at full length, Crescent Rose was taller than me, and I was the tallest person I had seen in Remnant so far. The amount of muscle Ruby packed into her small frame must be enormous, if she could wield that monster so fluently.

"Now, you said that fresh auras are sensitive, right? Well, I don't want you to think that I need special treatment… Or at least not any more than I am already getting, so I am going to prove to you that I can take a hit and be just fine. I want you to shoot me in the head with Crescent Rose, right from where you are standing, pointblank range."

It sounded like a suicide request, in all honesty, but to me, Ruby seemed a person who took the "seeing is believing" path in mental reasoning. So, therefore, this appeared to be the best option.

"WHAT?! RIKA, ARE YOU HONEST TO OUM CRAZY! NOT EVEN YANG _ASKS _TO BE SHOT, AND SHES THE BIGGEST LUNATIC AT THIS SCHOOL!"

"I need you to trust me, Ruby. I can prove to you two things by doing this; that my Aura is well capable of taking a hit, and that I am not afraid to do so either. Your weapon boasts the largest caliber bullet on campus, so it is fitting that you pull the trigger. And, if things go awry, tell the professor that this was all my idea, and that you were just tagging along with it."

I looked to her again, only to see her on the verge of tears again. I needed to hurry this along, before someone came along to see this.

"Ruby, look at me." I put my hands on her shoulders, and nearly forced her to meet my golden gaze.

"This is essentially my first test to being a Huntress. If I can't look death in the eye and stand fast, then I won't be able to do anything without running in fear. I _need_ to know that I am not afraid to die, and also not afraid to trust myself, my aura, and you as well. This is all a trust exercise, and all you have to do is aim and pull the trigger, like you've been training to do your whole life."

"I…I…Ah Oum-dammit Rika, why do you have to be so thoughtful with your words? How can I say no to you when you speak like that? I'll… shoot you, but please, promise me you won't die?"

"I solemnly swear upon the River Styx and the spirit of Oum that I shall not perish upon this day. Good enough for you?"

She looked up, not quite smiling, but not lost in shock either.

"Yeah, that's good enough. Now, hold still, I'll be quick."

"Ok, I'll be as still as I possibly-"

*_BLAM*_

Well, it was certainly quicker than I expected, and a hell of a lot more painful too.

* * *

_**Ok, so yeah, really big chapter. I had a while to ponder over some details, and smooth everything out before I uploaded, so hopefully everything is solid. By the way, two major points here: 1) I used google translate for the Norwegian, since my keyboard wouldn't get the characters out and 2) This is my first time writing a fight scene, so if anything stood out to you as oddly written or incoherent, please tell me for future fight scenes. **_

_**See you next time!**_


	8. Chapter 7

I try to be a person that keeps their promises, and usually I am pretty good at doing just that. Point being, I was very much alive, if not plagued by the worst headache I had ever received, preventing me from even opening my eyes for a couple of minutes. I had remained awake directly after Ruby pulled the trigger, but I was just too dazed to do anything but lay there and move as little as possible. After what felt like ten, maybe twenty minutes, I took a chance and opened my eyes, only to have my face instantly smothered by Ruby's massive bear hug.

"Oh fuck me, you're alive. I swear to the almighty, if you ever make me pull something like that again I will leave you in the wastes and walk away smiling, do you hear me?"

I managed a small smile through my dizzying ache, but nonetheless agreed internally that I would never do that again. I then realized why Ruby is such a force to be reckoned with at long range; the bullets she uses have enough force to knock down an oak tree from the roots and keep going.

"Again, I solemnly swear never to pull this shit again. Oh, and by the way, when did you develop such a potty mouth?"

"In the thick of the moment, does language really matter? It's a nervous tick, so sue me! I sat here thinking I had broken your neck or something, your ears weren't even twitching when I snapped my fingers!"

"That's because the blasts from your gun deafened me for a good while. You use earplugs I assume when you go out shooting?"

"Oh yeah, custom fitted, in-ears with a sonic dampener to allow voice comms through but not anything louder than that."

"Oh, high-tech too! I think I'll need a pair of those soon. My ears won't last all of this punishment…"

I wiggled them around to give them a stretch, considering the torment they had just endured. I could feel my tail beginning to move as well from the stretching.

"Well, now that that's over, do you think I can take a hit?"

Ruby paused for a second, looked away and sighed heavily. "Yes, I do. While I admit your Aura is _godly_ compared to most others, I don't think you should stress it so rapidly. It would be much healthier for you to ease into the whole process. And, for a good comparison, I had to spar with Jaune once with live ammo, and his Aura got clipped in one shot. He has the highest capacity Aura on campus, well, second highest now, so I think you are going to be quite the tank when you are more advanced."

"Wow, really? Even Jaune couldn't take a hit from your gun? That is… both amazing to consider and quite terrifying to imagine. I definitely don't want to be on the receiving end of that thing anymore, unless absolutely necessary."

"I think we can arrange that. I try to make it common practice not to shoot my friends… unless they really deserve it."

"I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, now that we finished that, can I be excused for now? My head feels like it is about to split open and I don't think I should be doing any more fighting today."

"Yeah, I think that would be good. Actually, let me see your head, I thought I saw some bleeding… Oh yeah, look, right here, a big gash on your cheek. Here, have a look."

Ruby pulled Crescent Rose's blade up close to my face, and tilted it slightly. The tilt created a mirror on the blade's edge, allowing me to see the deep cut along the side of my face, probably where the bullet traced. It didn't exactly look bad, but was beginning to sting quite a bit.

"Well, my first battle wound on day one, would you fancy that! Do you think it'll scar? I rather like my face the way it is right now."

"Hmm, if I had to guess, I would say it will, but I can't be certain. Your aura will take care of it pretty fast, so don't worry about the first aid either."

Tired of lying down, I sat up a little and began to stretch, releasing the tension that had built up in my joints and muscles. A few knuckle/neck cracks were thrown in for good measure, much to Ruby's dismay.

"You realize you'll kill your joints doing that, right?"

"Eh, doesn't bother me much, kinda feels good actually, and loosens your muscles and joints all in one."

No matter what it was to me, it was visibly disturbing for Ruby, so I made a mental note to try not to do that in front of her.

"Oh, by the way, do you know what time it is? I have a lunch date at noon."

Ruby pulled out her scroll, and took a brief glimpse at it before turning to me with an alarming neutral look.

"It's 11:57 Rika. Ummmm…."

"HOLY SHIT GOTTA GO, THANKS SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING SEE YOU LATER!"

I made some vain attempt to thank her as I practically disappeared from where I was laying down, but I doubted that any of it actually reached her. I felt the cool air race by my face as I sprinted back towards the Mess Hall at a speed I didn't know was possible for me. No doubt I was subconsciously channeling my Aura to boost my speed, but in the moment I couldn't really give two craps. I was _not_ about to be late for my lunch with Dad, so help me Oum.

I received a few enchanted comments from the gray blurs I expected to be people that I passed, but I was going too fast to even comprehend them. By the time I had reached the Mess Hall, I was beyond exhausted and too out of breath to even think. Only later did I come to realize that I turned a twenty minute walk to the field into a three minute sprint.

After a good while of controlled deep breaths, I managed to regain my lung support, and the ability to move as well. When I was certain I could walk without having my knees give out, I entered the double doors of the Hall, and began to scan the room for Dad. I found him hanging out in a table in the farthest corner, near one of the drink vendors. I walked briskly over to him, but then lightened my step as I approached, hoping maybe to spook him a little.

"Boo!"

He nonchalantly turned his head, put the book he was reading in his wheelchair next to him, and coolly nodded at my presence.

"I do hope you realize you lost all hope of sneaking up on me when you walked in, right? Gotta be more subtle with your entrance m'boy."

"*sigh* Well, I tried. Forgive me if I don't exactly have a lot of energy after my 'personal discovery' session with Ruby."

"Why, what'd she do that has you all drained? A couple of braindead security bots shouldn't be a problem, even for people like us."

"Well, for starters, I had her shoot me in the head and that wasn't quite as glam-"

"YOU WHAT?!"

He slammed his fist down on the table to interrupt me, stopping me dead in my tracks.

"Scot-Rika, whatever the hell you call yourself now, do you have any Idea how stupid that was for you to do? That metal monstrosity she wields has enough firepower to punch a hole in a sheet of Titanium like it was tissue paper! Simply _asking_ to have it turned on your goddamned skull is asinine!"

"But, I needed to prove to her that I was perfectly capable of doing what was expected of a Huntress! I had to prove-"

"That you knew nothing about what you were getting into, and that these people can only do what they do because they have sacrificed their entire lives up until now to hone their bodies and minds into machines capable of taking down the sheer matter of a nightmare! You, you have almost nothing they have, and you are still quite new to everything here. You are a puppy placed in the jungle, and you have absolutely no idea what you are doing, and unless you get the help you need, take things slowly, you _will _die without so much as a word escaping your lips."

I was unsure of what to say, completely shocked into silence. He essentially shot down my ambition as pure idiocy, and discounted the fact that I was willing to make the sacrifice that was expected of me.

"Alright, I can see that look on your face, it is the face of complete disagreement, and tells me you don't believe a word I am saying, so let me put it into layman's terms for you. Being a Huntress is dangerous enough as it is, the training is almost as deadly, and I am honestly not too keen on the fact that you could be mauled at any given moment. Willingly offering yourself to the mercy of a weapon that was literally designed to be unstoppable doesn't exactly give me much faith in your ability to logically think. Also, I am not too fond of losing my only family here, if you would allow me that much."

"I am not _trying_ to get myself killed here, Dad. The reason I had her do it is because she thought I was soft, she thought I wouldn't be able to handle being hit, and she would have babied me if I hadn't done anything. Now, she knows exactly what I am capable of, and won't restrict me simply because I am a novice."

"Novice or no, it's a damned miracle you still have your head attached. If anyone else at this school had pulled that stunt, they would have been blown away, even the professors. The _real _reason Ruby Rose is so good at her job is that Scythe, and nothing else. Sure, she can use it, but give her any other scythe, and her effectiveness would be a fraction of what it is with Crescent Rose. The original design for the thing was an assassination tool, meant for offing high value targets that were too much of a task for other weapons to handle. Her uncle found the blueprints on a mission a few years back, and he gave it to her. Of course, she went a step further, altering the blade and caliber of the thing to fight Grimm, but that only made it even worse for any person on the other end."

"…Yeah, one quick question; How is it that you were able to just now read off an entire speech about Ruby's weapon?"

He shrugged slightly, and put on his business smirk. "Things got boring around here after a while, so I got Ozpin to hand me the key to the Data department, and I poked around there for a few weeks. Man, things they kept hidden in there… Ah, but I felt I've already said too much, and do not tell Ruby I know about her gun! She is a rather fond student of mine, and I have no desire to see that change."

"Whoa, hold up! Student? You teach? Since when?"

"Eh, I got bored after I was finished digging around, so Ozpin figured it was better to stick in a classroom than have me looking around in his underwear drawer every five minutes. There just happened to be a business elective open, so I took over it."

"Holy hell, ain't that something? You always were pretty good with business, and you would be a pretty good teacher. Maybe I might just take you class, for the hell of it."

"Be my guest, the more the merrier! Speaking of classes, do you have any idea which one _you _will be teaching? Kids will be coming back for the next semester any day now, and it takes quite a bit of effort to put together a syllabus."

"Speaking of a syllabus, I wanted to ask you something. Tell me, does Beacon have a music program?"

"C'mon, this is a battle school not some high credit college, of course it doesn't. Most kids don't have time for something as intensive as learning an instrument."

"Yeah, that's true, but what about the ones that already know how to play? I could easily take them, and make a decent concert band. Plus, I'm quite literate in music, so it is something I could teach without a problem. Let's face it, all work and no play makes for a dull hunter, and these need some distraction form all of the lessons on killing and maiming to let loose and have a little bit of fun in their lives. Wouldn't you agree? I mean, after all, not getting enough time to relax was the reason you died in the first place."

Dad looked kind of glum when I mentioned that particular information. Although, I could hardly blame him for not being exactly cheery when talking about his own death.

"Yes, I know that danger all too well. Yes, I think music would be a fine idea. I'd let the headmaster know about that soon, so you can get your bearings in order for the first few classes."

Dad took a quick stretch in his seat, turning all the way around, exhaling as he moved. He paused mid-stretch, however, and something seemed to catch his eye. When he turned around again, a small smirk was perched upon his grizzly mug.

"My my, what has you all chummy?" I asked.

"Oh, it's just someone I recognized from class, nothing big. Now then, on to the business at hand."

He turned back around to face me, and his expression had taken on a more somber tone.

"I wanted to talk to you because I've missed a lot of your life, and I want to hear all about it. I want every detail you can think of, paint me a picture that can replace the gap that has grown between us, if you would be so kind."

"No, no problem here. Well, I guess I'd better start from the beginning…"

* * *

And so I told him every single thing he wanted to hear. From the minute he died to the minute I left Earth, I did my best to remember everything that could be of importance. I shared my thoughts, feelings, desires, hopes, ambitions, loves, hates, habits, insecurities, confidences, and everything in between. For hours we sat there and talked, not even pausing to eat food like I had originally thought we would. All of that time, I talked without interruption, and he simply sat there with his eyes closed, not asleep but entirely focused on absorbing every detail I threw his way. By the time I had finished giving my summarized version of the last two years, it was likely close to midnight, and the hall completely deserted save for a girl a few tables away from us. She hadn't moved the entire time either, but seemed rather engrossed in a textbook. Her back was also facing us, so I couldn't get a good look at her face either.

"Well then, it seems you have had quite an interesting few years. First and foremost, I want to say it again; I may never be able to make up for what happened, but I never intend to leave you alone like that again, I absolutely swear it. Also, I'm sorry for what you had to deal with regarding the rest of the family, I-I hope you don't blame them for how they acted."

"No, I don't, but it certainly didn't improve my images of them either, so I'd say it was a neutral exchange."

By that, I was positive he was referring to the way his family had acted following his death. Most of them completely ignored his passing, or utterly shut our family out of their lives, like we were too painful for them to look at.

"Death is a very painful thing, and their hearts were too scared to handle the pain properly. I did what I could, but in the end they decided for themselves what to do."

"That is something very adult of you to say, although I was expecting you would say something like that. You were always the mature one among your friends."

Dad turned again quickly behind him, almost doing a quick double take. He turned to me again, with the same sly look as before.

"OK you're killing me here, what is soooo interesting over there?"

"Third table behind me, lass engrossed in a book, do you see her?"

He hushed his voice like trying to cover up a secret, so I mimicked his style in my response. Just as I went to look at her, she spun her head around, likely to check on the absence of conversation, and our eyes met briefly. They sparkled like pure ocean spray.

"Yeah, snow white hair, side ponytail, and blue ey- Oh you have got to be shitting me."

To the credit of my ever-worsening luck, three tables back, those blue eyes, snow white hair, and side ponytail belonged to the one and only Weiss Schnee, the queen Tsundere herself, sitting there trying to look focused while sneaking glances at us while we talked.

"What the hell is _she _doing here? She isn't supposed to come home for another week!"

"Maybe she was curious to see who her new teammate was, or maybe her now professor?"

"Weiss never struck me as the curious type, so she must have some kind of reason for sitting here eavesdropping on us."

"Well…" he moved his face away from our secretive huddle, and instead began to talk in a slightly louder tone than he had before. "…Maybe if Miss Schnee wants to come and say HELLO to her beloved professor, she should simply come over and do so before I dock her grade ten points for eavesdropping on staff during a confidential convers-"

"Oh, hello Professor Cortes, I didn't expect to find you here so late at night!"

"Hello there Weiss, I too was quite surprised to see you out so late instead of in your dorm room. You are rather lucky they do not enforce curfew during the holiday. Anyway, now that you have decided to come out of the shadows, there is someone I wanted you to meet. Weiss, this is my so- Daughter, Rika. As I am sure you are aware by now, she is a transfer student to Beacon, and will be your new roommate."

Weiss bent down to my eye level, and pierced me with the broadest stare I had ever experienced, before her eyes widened with realization.

"YOU! I remember you, the one who nearly took off my head when you oh so rudely materialized in our dorm room! How on earth have you not been expelled from this school for your utter carelessness? I managed to keep you from Yang's unnecessary wrath as a common courtesy, but it seems it was a wasted gesture."

"Whoa, just chill there Weiss, none of that was exactly planned. Didn't the Headmaster explain all of this to you? Also, how did you recognize me? I wasn't exactly the same… gender the last time we saw each other."

"I know who you are because no other person in this school would have such an unstable Aura as someone who had never used theirs before, and you are the only one in this school to ever be admitted without any prior education or skill evaluations on the matter."

Or so she thought. Just wait till she gets wind of Jaune.

"Also, the Headmaster neglected to explain anything other than the fact that you were not from this dimension, and that you would become a Huntress in training like us. There are many things I do not know about you…"

She sounded almost annoyed at this; like she would be permanently perturbed by not having a complete encyclopedia of every person on the planet, and my presence was currently fucking up her system.

"Well, allow me to help you clear up some of the confusion. My name, as previously stated, is Rika Clarence. This man next to me is my Father, also born in another Dimension. Beginning next week, I will become the fifth member of Team RWBY, as well as their student, to learn everything I need to know that can prepare me for this Journey. Also, to pay off the massive debt I am going to accumulate while studying here, I will be coordinating the newly instated Musical Literacy course as its primary Professor. As your new Professor, your new Teammate, and your new student, I find it very nice to meet you, Weiss Schnee."

Silence. Weiss could not say anything after my introduction for almost two minutes. All she could do was stand there with a stiffly horrified expression and a twitch in her scarred eye. That is, until she exploded with enough force to level a football stadium.

"HOW IN THE ACTUAL FUCK DID AN UNEDUCATED PEASANT LIKE YOURSELF GET INSTANT ADMISSION TO THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS ACADEMY IN THE WORLD, BECOME A MEMBER OF THE MOST WELL KNOWN TEAM ON CAMPUS, AND _MAGICALLY_ WORM YOUR WAY INTO BECOMING A GOD DAMNED PROFESSOR AT THE AGE OF SEVENTEEN AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME!?"

"Ummm…."

"NO, YOU DO NOT GET TO SPEAK TO ME! YOU HAVE EARNED NOTHING HERE, AND I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THIS IN ANY CAPACITY WHATSOEVER. IF THE HEADMASTER DOES NOT KICK YOU OUT, I WILL PERSONALLY THROW YOU OFF OF BEACON TOWER AND WATCH YOU FALL TO YOUR DEATH WHILE LAUGHING!"

With this final threat, she stormed off from the Hall, her screams echoing for minutes after her departure, and creating a path of ice crystals behind her. I was trembling in my seat, and felt my hand clamor for my chair, just to have something to hold on to.

"I-I have to r-room with that-that TYRANT! I am so f-fucked man, I don't think I can do it screw the Grimm I'll get offed by Weiss and her bloody superiority complex…"

"I think she was _just_ a bit angry that Ozpin decided to name you a Professor without really doing much. I wouldn't give her too much ammunition against you if she ends up enrolling in your class, or else a column of Schnee lawyers may just tear down the gates to get at you and Ozpin."

"Oh, don't worry, so long as I teach that class, none of them will have anything to pull on me, I can guarantee that."

"Good. The less she can bitch you out, the healthier your relationship will be. You are also a Faunus, and if I remember correctly, she is not too fond of your race, if that really matters to any of this."

"Honestly, I had forgotten that myself, I'm glad you reminded me, but with Blake around I would be surprised if she was really too much like that publicly. She also might not believe that I am your Daughter because I am a Faunus. I'll have to say that Mom was or something of the like."

"I'm sure that will be one of the things she will question you on. If I know Weiss, and being her Professor I am quite sure I do, she will not stop until she has her way, unless you can somehow get her to trust you enough for her to drop it. Until you can do that, do not expect Weiss to be friendly to you, in any fashion."

"I can understand that, and I know what I will have to do, but its late, and I am exhausted after nearly dying twice today, and I would rather be asleep when Weiss comes back to the room so I think I'm going to sign off now."

"Alright, I'm tired too; I think I'll head out as well. Be careful on your way out, Weiss's temper tantrum left a melting ice trail out the door."

"Right. Sweet dreams Papa Bear, I'll see you tomorrow, if I can get free from work long enough."

I wandered out of the Hall's exit, relieved to see that Weiss's trail lead away from the dorms, towards Ozpin's offices. She would likely shove her away or deny her, but I refused to be around for her temper to be unleashed again. I sprinted back to the dorms, quickly snuck into bed without Yang or Ruby waking up, and tried to fall asleep before I was murdered.

* * *

In the morning, I awoke relieved to find that Weiss had checked into a nearby Hotel, according to Ruby, leaving a note behind explaining herself. It seemed she would be staying there until break was over, allowing me to be safe in the room, where I diligently worked on my Syllabus and class paperwork. I was uncertain of exactly what kind of men and women would be in my class, but from Ozpin told me the day after I filled out my papers, it was quite a sizable signup for a battle school. Somehow he knew exactly what I was going to pick, and put out a notice for students to sign up days before I had even decided on my subject material. His selective foresight scared me sometimes, simply because he made it look like child's play every single time.

For the next week, my routine was simple; wake to Yang's indentured servitude for Breakfast, followed by a training session with various weapon types and strategies (courtesy of Ruby and Yang) so that I would not be completely lost when I was set to spar with another person. Other than that, I hardly saw Ruby at all the rest of the day, likely because she spent her time in the workshop, crafting her "Sweetheart 2.0", which was to be my new weapon come the end of break. The remainder of my day was laced with paperwork for classes, studying every subject that I had missed out on, and trying to avoid Weiss when she hunted for me. Generally I was rather good at not being found, despite my large frame and lanky form. I might have been tall, but I could easily fit into tight spaces without a problem.

By the end of the week, I was so packed with combat lingo and facts that I could burst at the seams, but I allowed it to all fade away as the pivotal day arrived.

The first day of the third Semester.

That morning, I could hardly breathe I was so nervous, especially because my first class just happened to be my teaching class. I was allowed to wear whatever I wanted for these periods, so I slipped into my combat outfit after I had showered. My hair was unmanageable as usual, but today it did not look like a rat's nest, instead more like a robin's nest, much prettier and less likely to spew rodents. As I began walking out the door, I was stopped by Ruby, who was on the other side of the door, covered in grease, and slouched over in tiredness. In her had she held what looked to be a gun wrapped in cloth.

"Rika, I did it! It took me all night, but I finally finished my masterpiece! She looks even better than Crescent Rose did when I first finished her! Oh, take a look, you'll love it!"

I glanced to my watch, and discovered I had only mere minutes until I was to be at the teaching venue, and I was certain Ruby wanted to fully highlight every single aspect of her craftsmanship; something I simply didn't have time for.

"Wish I had time Ruby, but my class starts in ten minutes, and I'm teaching too, so I can't afford to marvel over anything right now. Keep in on you, hand it to me in Grimm studies, ok?"

I didn't wait for her answer, as I had to run to make it to the arts building before the class began. It was pushing the time limit already, but it was my own fault for taking my time with my routine.

I ran as fast as I could, making sure not to go anywhere with too much traffic around it, namely the Mess Hall and the battle arena center. By the time I had reached the small grey marble building housing my lecture hall, it was already a little bit past the start time for class despite my efforts.

When I reached for the ornate handle, I paused, and felt another wave of anxiety wash over me. I had to subdue it before I entered, or else I would be a total mess.

"Alright Rika, when you walk into that room, you become a Professor for the first time. No stammers, no slip ups, be professional. Don't let anyone talk you down, be strong. Alright, you can do this…"

I took a few deep breaths before pushing open the black door to the building. When I walked in, I was greeted by a amphitheater style hall, complete with rotunda style seating, and a small podium on stage. While not extravagantly large, it allowed for sound to flow, while not requiring me to yell across the room to call on someone. There were windows situated around the walls, but not enough to really light up the place. I saw my students seated in the first three rows of the audience, with desk bars pulled over their seats. None of them heard my entrance, allowing me to cough loudly, calling attention to myself as I stood at the door.

Then, the sweet moment came at last. "Welcome class, to the last day of your life you will be able to call yourselves mediocre. Starting right now, you are all perfectionists."

* * *

**_Oh yeah, Professor Clarence in the house. Another chapter down, another one coming very soon, and another in the making, its been a good week guys. I can honestly say I'm happy with everything so far. I think soon enough I will start the setup for some romance opportunities, and start developing Rika as a combatant a little more. Next chapter we get to see what our Furry friend is really capable of, get HYPE!_**

**_As always, Cheers _**


	9. Chapter 8

When I looked out over the assembled crowd, my earlier information was destroyed, as there were only about forty kids in the theater, and they all managed to fit into the spacious first and second rows. Seriously, what kind of battle school needs a performance hall that big? It reminded me of one of the professional halls in New York, where you could get lost in the sea of red velvet among the crowd. I made my way calmly but quickly to the podium at the center of the lowered stage, and placed my bag down next to it. I looked out over the crowd gathered, and got a good look at my pupils.

From the class, I managed to pick out a few familiar faces; Weiss (yay), Blake (who hadn't even been in the dorm the week before), Jaune, and Pyrrha. It was comforting to see people I knew in the crowd, but among them I also caught wind of Cardin Winchester and his team nestled in the back row, all alone. What that idiot was doing in a performance class was beyond me, but I hoped he would at least do his part well enough. So long as you did your job, I could care less how much of an idiot you were.

"Hey, what's the big Idea, where's the new Professor? Did she tell you to send a message for her or something?"

"No, she didn't, likely because I _am the Professor._ The name's Clarence, Rika Clarence, and starting today I'm your new Band Director. Now, I'm sure you all are very confused right now by the fact that I'm the same age as you, but don't worry, I have every single bit of a clue as to what I'm doing. Now then, unless any of you have questions for me, I'd like to-"

"Yeah, I got one, Fido, what's some dumb mutt like you doing teaching a class here, of all places?"

Without even looking up, I called out to my interloper.

"Come again, Sergeant FuckTwat?"

"Oh, excuse me, that was too complicated for ya to understand there, my bad. What I mean to say is, how did you cheat your way onto the staff board?"

I looked out across the class, until I saw the same undisciplined artard in the back row, now standing and hollering out. Damnit Cardin, you just had to open your big mouth and ruin my flow. I heard a few snickers at his remark echo through the space, as well as some whispers regarding myself. The hall had perfect acoustic echo, allowing me to simply talk and be heard anywhere you sat, and vice versa, but it was safe to say that something a little bit more than _talk _would be needed. Well, now that you've poked the sleeping wolf, mister axe man, let's see how you like her bite.

"I am here, Mister Winchester, because the Headmaster has _personally_ evaluated my personal qualities and achievements and deemed them worthy of applying them towards educating my peers. Furthermore, before you call someone a 'Mutt', I would advise you check your own heritage to see if you and them have something in common with each other."

I let the retort stew in his head for a moment before I saw the first hints of anger appear on his mug. Oh, the joys of being able to pick out fine details from afar were quickly becoming well known to me. Amid the various chantings from the crowd, Cardin stood up, and began to move towards the center stage down the aisle. As he walked, I dared to allow a small smile appear on my lips.

"I don't think I made myself quite clear last time, so let me be a bit more direct with my words. You shouldn't be here, neither should any of your kind, _ever. _The fact that you're standing up there and claiming to be a teacher is an insult to your own miserable existence, so why don't you just trot along and go chew on some raw hide? I'm sure we could all skip your lesson in how to lick your own ass. Lord knows we get enough of that from the other Mutts around he-"

Alright, this dickweed was asking for it now, I felt _personally obligated_ to beat some manners into him. When he was within a few feet of the podium, I took the conducting wand from the stand and threw it at his face. Using the time it took for him to raise an arm and block it, I dashed over to him, catching him by surprise. Using one of the moves Ruby taught me over break, I intercepted his shin mid-stride, causing him to fall flat on his face, but not before I managed to strike his spine's fifth vertebrae with a downwards chop, rendering him temporarily paralyzed from the neck down. I botched my footwork, but the oaf was so large it didn't even he was on the ground, grunting, the rest of the room was speechless, except for Weiss, whose teeth I could hear grinding against each other noisily. If she did it any harder, she would likely need dentures before the period was out.

"Ah, _chupa mi culo, muchacho mierda. (Translation: Suck my Ass, Fuckboy) _That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you deal with subordination. Anyone need a recap on the material? No? Well, then allow me to continue."

I leaned down to Cardin, and flipped him over onto his back. When he was glaring me in the eyes, I turned on every ounce of intimidation I had in me, even going so far as to growl a little bit with my teeth bared for extra effect. The growl seemed to pirouette across the room, resonating like a perfect sonata against the stunned silence.

"Look here, little boy, as soon as you entered this hall you signed away your soul to me. Now, if you dare to so much as think anything else, I will have your ass booted out of this academy with so much force you will be snacking on your own nuts as you hit the ground crying! Since I'm the forgiving type, I'll cut you a deal; how about you put on a nice smile and address your teacher as her proper name, I don't think Mutt is in any way appropriate for me. Do that, and _maybe _I won't report this little incident to the Headmistress. Oh, how she would _love_ to deal with a case of unprovoked verbal assault on a Professor, only on the first day back!"

Oh dear christ I am so smoothe when I try hard to be. I was enjoying every single minute of Cardin's embarrassment, and he was writhing in the sheer idiocy of his actions.

"Professor Clarence…"

"Oh, that's no good now Cardin, I need you to yell it out nice and loud so that everyone can hear you. Now, what is my name?"

"PROFESSOR CLARENCE!"

With a smirk on my face and sheer giddiness in my heart, I released him, flipping him over again and striking his fifth vertebrae, reversing the paralysis. However, this quickly turned on me, and he jumped up faster than I expected. When he has on his feet, I couldn't avoid his bear grab, squishing me against his chest, and crushing the air out of my lungs while I dangled in midair. If my Aura wasn't as good as it was, I might have cracked a rib or two. He held me like this while laughing for about two seconds before a black blur flashed in front of us, knocking me out of his arms, and pinning Cardin to the ground again.

"Enough is Enough Cardin!" I heard beside me while I recovered. I hit the ground hard, coughing profusely and with tears in my eyes. However, I also picked out Cardin sobbing and writhing like a baby. When I managed to wipe the tears from my eyes, I looked over to see a girl in a black bow holding down Cardin with her blade drawn against his throat. Her eyes spoke of intent for murder, but her body remained calm and serene. She had complete control of the situation, and her mannerisms spoke it.

Oddly enough, Blake had just threatened to off one of her classmates (albeit a douchey one) in the name of someone she had never before met in her life. And although it was a delicacy to see him so scared, I knew it could only go on for so long before someone would actually call campus security.

"Alright, I think Cardin has had enough, let him go, please." She looked back at me as I spoke, following my every movement like a cat would. She did not wear her emotions on her sleeve, as I saw nothing in her expression other than sheer determination and calm.

When she removed her blade from Cardin's neck, the entirety of the room erupted into applause, save for Weiss and Cardin's team, who were coming down to the stage to claim his limp form. Blake stood from her position, and sheathed her weapon fluidly on her back before looking around at everyone.

Her golden eyes turned to me when she noticed I was upright and breathing normally. When I looked into her gaze, I instantly felt mystified and wondered, lost within the thin sea of gold held within. It reminded me of when I first looked at my reflection.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm-I'm good, Miss…"

"Belladonna, Blake Belladonna, I play Clarinet."

Well, isn't that a lovely coincidence, we have something in common.

"Very well, Blake, you just earned yourself the position of Woodwind Section Leader. Those of you who play woodwind, report to Blake from now on during rehearsal, understood?"

I heard a few replies among the crowd, giving me a preemptive look at the woods section. I good amount, not too many, but not a lot either. Meanwhile, Blake instantly broke her facade of sternness and began to look around nervously while blushing.

"Wait, Professor, I-I wasn't asking for anything like tha-"

"No, you weren't asking for it, but I gave it to you because you seem a person who will not tolerate disrespect and radiates practical ability and dexterity. You can no doubt lead a group, and by my guesses, your fingerwork must be excellent."

Blake blinked once at my sudden rebuttal, but smiled softly and nodded, returning to her seat.

"Now then, Mister Winchester, since you have graced us with your presence, tell me, what does your musical talent consist of, I wonder?"

Cardin, still lying on the ground, grinned at my question before looking over to Blake, and suddenly looked away as if terrified by what he had seen. He then stood up and faced me.

"Thought you'd never ask Fid- Professor. Me and the boys have a drum set in the dorms all to ourselves, so we came with the intention of getting a few easy credits off of beating on drums for a while."

His mates jumped up at the mention of drums and cheered wildly, not sitting again until the whole class was staring them down.

"Alright, then you and your team will command the Percussion section. Need I remind you that such a position controls the flow of the entire band, and error will not be tolerated?"

"Yeah, yeah, I gotcha, no fuck ups. Easy peasy, we're professionals!"

"We shall see soon enough. Alright, return to your seat Cardin, we have a very tight schedule for this class, and I needn't waste any more time than I already have. Let's go through attendance first.

Belladonna…

Belmont...

Chzarcozi…"

* * *

After I had ran through the entire list, I counted a total of forty seven people in the band, with two of them absent on that day. This was certainly enough people for a good sized band, I just had to be careful of the instrument placement so nothing would be drowned out by another section.

"Alright, today's class will be very simple. I will be sorting you into instrumental groups and reassigning some of you according to the needs of the ensemble. Please divide yourselves in front of the instrument group you wish to play in, or are accustomed to playing in. I have taken the liberty of setting up various stations for each family of instrument. Get going, time is short."

After a few minutes, I walked by each section to see how many people we had amassed. I was surprised at the balance that naturally came with the group, with the woods containing the most people, and the brass being the least numerous, only beaten in their lack of numbers by the drummers, wholly taken up by team CRDL. I spotted Jaune and Pyrrha over by the low brass, and Weiss managed to make her way over to the flutes. Blake was already doing her duty as leader by organizing the clarinet section.

"Alright, we will not have enough time today to begin playing in ensemble, but please fill out the roster forms on each table, so I can assign Section leaders tomorrow following your skill assessment. Also, take your horns to your dorms tonight, and get comfortable with them. We will need to move quickly in sessions if we want to be prepared for our Spring performance for the Altesian Ambassadors."

"Wait, what?!" I heard Jaune scream out above the crowd, likely unable to fathom performing so quickly after the class had begun. If he ended up playing like he fought, he would need some serious help, or else the section was doomed to failure.

"Yes. Jaune, in spring the Headmaster wants the only performance band in the school's history to perform for the most well armed politicians on the planet while they visit the school's grounds. If we're lucky, and we aren't terrible, they won't call any mechs to put us out of our misery."

I began to chuckle a little, but everyone around me instead shivered slightly and looked uncomfortable.

"*cough* right, sorry about that, my sarcasm gets out of control sometimes. Anyway, the bell will ring momentarily, remember your instruments, and make sure you signed in to your sections, if your name isn't on those sheets, you aren't in this band!"

In the moments before the period ended, I took the liberty to go behind the curtain of the stage and change into my student uniform, since I had a class next. When I emerged, the entire room spun around to see me emerge from the curtain, dressed in my uniform.

I heard them whispering too, since I had neglected to tell them I was also a student.

"Wait, why is she wearing a uniform, she's a teacher, isn't she?"

"Wait, don't tell me, is she a student too?"

"She has to be, she wouldn't wear it otherwise…"

I hated being at the center of everyone's attention, so I did my best to try and blend in, but everywhere I went a large gap in the crowd followed me. Eventually, someone pulled on my arm and dragged me towards them. When I spun around to meet them, I was greeted by Blake's yellow orbs looking me over.

"You really are a student, aren't you? How did that happen?"

"It's a _really long_ and _really complicated_ story that isn't exactly fit for the ears of others, if you understand my meaning, but don't worry, I'll tell you later in the dorm rooms"

"Oh, uh, alright, here, I'll write down my dorm number for yo-"

"2319, right? I already know where to go, don't bother."

"W-wait, how do you know where I live, you just got here, didn't you? You're the transfer student everyone is talking about."

"Well, yes, I am a transfer student, but make no mistake, I've had plenty of time to familiarize myself with Beacon, also… I'm kind of on your team now, I guess?"

Blake looked extremely confused by all of this, especially the fact that I was now a fifth member of her team.

"I'm… Not quite sure that can even happen, but if you really are someone who is on my team now, I guess you will be back in the dorm in the evening, so you'll get to explain, correct?"

"Absolutely, you and Weiss both, since I think she is just a little bit pissed off at me right now, probably because I was chosen to be a Professor and she wasn't, y'know, regular teenage jealousy."

"Well, whatever the case is, It was good to meet you, Professor Clarence."

"Likewise, but now that class is over, please call me Rika, I'd rather not have that air of formality follow me around campus, I hate being all stuffy like that, it just feels so forced."

I heard the dismissal bell go off from the central tower, resulting in a massive rush for the door. Blake began to shuffle towards the door as well, with more haste than I was anticipating.

"Blake!" I called after her, hoping to catch her attention before she left. She turned around before reaching the door, and looked back. By now, we were alone in the hall, the echoes of the class rebounding off the walls intermittently.

"Thank you, for getting Cardin off me. I wasn't expecting that at all, and it probably saved me a lot of embar-"

"Of course you weren't expecting it, because life is what happens while you are busy planning otherwise."

With that cool remark, blake smirked slyly and strode out of the hall, leaving me alone with my thoughts and one hell of a sore chest.

"Oh Lord help me, I think I've found my Soulmate…"

* * *

"Welcome back, my students, yes it was quite an adventurous break for all of us, wasn't it?"

Grimm studies 101, taught by Peter Port, and I thought I had seen some bad teachers in my life. I'd been taught by schizophrenic crackheads, douchebag athletic coaches, lazy weeaboos, and anything in between, but never before did I have a teacher who did literally nothing but _talk about himself _for an entire class period.

"Now that I've finished regaling you with my tale of valor and intelligence, I would like to take the opportunity to welcome a new scholar into the fray; Miss Clarence, would you care to take a bow?"

I knew something like this was going to come along, but all I could do was smile and wave, really. I stood up and looked around, seeing my team to my left, team JNPR to my right, and everyone else in front or behind me.

"Hey, she's kinda cute, dontcha think?"

"You idiot, she's a professor, have some class, would you?"

Well, didn't think I was worth _that _much attention, but someone seemed to think so. I looked towards my right, looking for whoever was the source of the comment, but all I could find was Jaune laying his head on the desk, likely asleep again. Even if he managed to sneak his way into Beacon, how he was managing to stay in it was beyond me.

"Now, now, I'm sure you would all like to get better acquainted with Miss Clarence, but for right now we have much bigger prey to hunt. Or, should I say, for Miss Clarence to hunt."

"Uh, pardon, Professor?"

I saw a devilish grin appear from behind his mustache. "You heard me loud and clear, for I know those ears aren't just for show. I want you to show the class the skills you learned while hunting beowolves in Forever Fall, like the story the Headmaster shared with me."

Right, because "Hunting Beowolves" was totally something I did in my spare time. It was likely Ozpin's attempt at building up my achievement profile, but honestly I hated having to live up to an expectation I wasn't sure I could keep.

"While I would _love_ to slay a Beowolf or two for you guys, it seems that my weapon isn't quite out of the shop yet, so I wouldn't have anything to fight with."

"Wait, Rika, I have your weapon right here! I wanted to give it to you this morning, but you ran off…" Ruby sprang up with the bundle of cloth in her hands again. When she presented it to me, I removed the ribbon binding it, allowing the cloth to fall away, revealing the most intricate piece of metal I had ever laid eyes on.

It looked just like a large revolver, like one of the S&amp;W 500s from back home, but something was definitely off about it. For starters, the thing was about a half-foot longer than usual, and although it carried quite a bit of heft, I didn't feel as if I couldn't control it. On the top of the gun lay an ACOG sight, perfectly tuned and calibrated for night vision as well. The thing glowed with blued steel, and shone to perfectionist's levels. The handle melded into a stock, which was slightly small, but I was not at all complaining. There was a button below the hilt, and when I got curious enough to push it, the the thing sprang to life in my hands. Gears whirled, and metal hinges rotated, and the barrel flattened and elongated to reveal the weapon's melee form. When finished, it was a good three foot, double-edged sword, balanced as it had been before, and sharper than any blade I had ever touched. In this form, the stock straightened out, forming the basis for a longer handle, allowing me a better grip with two hands while steering clear of the trigger. I also noticed that the firearm mechanism remained intact through an opening in the bottom edge of the blade.

"My, my, Miss Rose, you've certainly been busy with another masterpiece, haven't you? Oh, I simply can't wait to see it perform in combat!"

"Ruby, this thing is a technological marvel, how on Remnant did you manage to do this in a week?"

"Well, I wanted my new teammate to fit in with everyone else, so I put on my extra strong gloves and set to work. Do you like it?"

"Like it? I fucking love it, it is the single greatest weapon I have ever held in my hand!"

With my gunblade still in my grasp, I grabbed Ruby in a massive hug, nearly squeezing the life out of her. When I released her, my gaze wandered to the cylinders on the gun, and I wondered.

"Oh, yeah, by the way, what kind of ammo does this thing use?"

"Well, because I had to compensate for the mecha shift size, and the barrel radius got so big and all the metal for the blade had to be grapht-"

"Get to the point."

"Right, well, now you and I share ammo, since your revolver is the same caliber as Crescent Rose."

"Ok, so shit ton of recoil, big damage, how about my clip size? Do I have any speed reloaders?"

"Yeah, I managed to make a few for you after I finished, they should fit on your belt. For now, just stick them in your pockets. Your clip size is the standard six, so be mindful of your ammo. Safety and mag release are on your handle, just remember, 'if the button's red, he's dead', easy enough?"

"Yeah, I think so. Professor, I think we're ready to get rolling here."

I leaned close to Ruby so no one else could hear me. "Do I need to worry about never having used this thing before, let alone any kind of sword?"

"No, you should be fine for now, it should be light enough for you to swing it any way you want to. If it ends up getting to be too much to handle, just tilt it sideways and use your recoil to your advantage. It flies upwards after each shot, so you gotta make that momentum count. Just hit whatever he throws at you with a few shots, and it should pass quickly."

"Alright ladies, let's get this show on the road, Miss Clarence, front and center!"

"Wish me luck guys, hopefully I won't need it."

I shot my team a wistful glance, and they all seemed to receive it in a good way. Blake was waving her Beacon flag in my name, Yang and Ruby were sporting foam fingers (which I still have no idea where they got from), and Weiss, much to her dismay, was forced into waving a little victory flag around.

I reached the main floor, and stood next to the Professor next to his podium. I tapped my switch on the handle again and reverted it back into a gun. After he assessed my equipment, he strode over to his vast assortment of cages, and hopped onto the top one.

"Alright, you know the rules of the game, finish them off in any way necessary, and don't let them finish you. Are you ready?"

"Ready!"

I was so not ready for this, but I really had no choice at this point. I cocked my oversized revolver, training it towards the cages, peering through the sight, waiting.

"Begin!" With a large downward swipe from the battleaxe that found its way into his hand, he broke the lock on the cage, releasing a rather large looking Beowolf, complete with blood-red bone plating and dark red, beady eyes trained on me.

"The headmaster tells me you have hunted a pack of Beowolves by yourself before, but not many have faced the pack's Alpha dog, one on one! A perfect showcase, I think."

Well, showcase or not this thing looked ready to pounce on me at any given moment. I took advantage of its pause and unloaded my first shot into its torso. The recoil from the shot caused the gun to kick just above my head, nearly blowing the thing out of my grasp. However, the results were very effective, as a good chunk of its shoulder was torn away, revealing its inner bone.

Instead of acting hurt, it clawed away the hanging flesh and turned its eyes back towards me, with an even more vengeful look on its face now.

"Oh shit."

Without any kind of warning signs, it leapt at me from across the stage, nearly landing on me before I could jump to the side. Lying on my back, I fired another shot into its leg, creating a large crack in its bone plating, and causing it to stumble forward slightly. I took the chance while I could, and switched my gun into the blade again. I ran as close as I could to the thing, wound up for a good slash, and let loose on its other leg. The blade sliced clean through it, causing the best to fall on the ground, thrashing around disabled. I took the opportunity to try and slash off the other limbs as well, leaving the alpha's torso and head to thrash in the middle of the pile of its own limbs.

Mind you, it sounds a bit sadistic now, but in the moment, I was too hopped up on adrenaline to fully comprehend what I was trying to do with it anyway.

When I was standing over the alpha, I decided to try out the hybrid form shots. Taking aim at the beast's chest, I lined up the blade with its stomach, and pulled the trigger. The recoil pushed the blade through the bone plates on its body, all the way up to its head, and cleaved the remaining body clean in two, all within less than a second. I was amazed such a deadly thing could exist within such a small frame, even if the barrel was extended immensely longer than the regular pistol. I could carry the thing on my belt and it could slice through bone armor that was as hard as reinforced steel. The thought still perplexes me a little today.

However, while I was busy pondering the nature of my weapon, the entire class was applauding for me. My team was especially enthusiastic, save for the Ice Queen, but the rest of the class was rather entertained too.

"Well done, my dear, quite a good show. I will say, you shouldn't make sure timely executions a battle habit, but otherwise absolutely splendid for someone who only managed to complete their last year of battle school!"

_Only their last year of battle school._ For fucks sake Ozpin, you needed to chill with all of these stories about me. It's hard enough that I don't really know what I'm doing yet, you have to go and make me look like a big shot.

"Well… Thank you Professor, can I sit down now?"

"What? Oh, yes, of course. Now, since we have just witnessed an Alpha Beowolf being taken down in the flesh, let us now discuss the appropriate way to approach and eliminate one in the wild, shall we? Open your books to chapter thirty-one and take the appropriate notations."

I took my seat next to my team again, placing my newly-tested gunblade in the sheathe Ruby had produced, allowing it to sit on my back. Port began to ramble on, and just like that I hated being in school again.

Forty-five minutes and three failed assassination attempts on Port later, he finished his lecture, assigning us another chapter to read for the next class, and calling everything to an end.

"Clarence, see me when the rest leave, I have some critiques regarding your battle today that I want to go over in private."

I could hear Weiss giggling behind me, and when I looked back at her she was inconspicuously attempting to blend in my striking up conversation with Jaune, but of course Vomit Boy, like he always is to most people, was oblivious to her, and she ended up having a one-way conversation with his back.

When the bell sounded, the rest of the students wandered out the door, leaving me and Port alone near his desk.

"I will say, Rika, for someone who has never fought a Grimm in her life, your technique is surprisingly advanced. I was expecting misguided chops and poorly aimed shots. While you were not the most coordinated, or accurate, you had some semblance of an idea of how to fight the thing. I was rather impressed."

"How-how did you know I never fought a Grimm before? If I may ask, that is."

"Well, the headmaster has made it his prerogative to inform the staff here of your situation, so that we are not too overwhelming on your transition into Beacon life. We are fully aware of your situation, Miss Clarence, and each and every one of us is here to aide you in any way possible, should you ask it of us. However, we were all informed of your staggering academic potential, so we expect great things out of you! That may be the reason why he asked us to embellish your career a little bit…"

"Well, I find it rather nice you all wish to help me. Thank you."

"Remember, Miss Clarence, your team may be able to train your body, and your reflexes, but you will be dead in the water without the knowledge we will give you."

"Yes, I think I will remember that. By the way, can you write me a pass to my next class, I don't think my father will be too pleased that I am late to his first class…"

* * *

People say Huntsmen are the single most deadly force on the planet besides Grimm. Now, there are many reasons for this, but it is widely reasoned that the amount of time people put into their training and studies is the main reason for their combat effectiveness. You begin training at age seven, and continue well into your twenties (if you survive that long) until you are ready for deployment. Many students never find the time to develop their skills or interests in anything other than combat.

It would seem that assumption was correct, considering that Dad's class was composed of five people shoved into an old classroom. I could safely assume that Ozpin, fearing Dad would find something he didn't like in the archives, created the class simply to keep him out of his way for a while.

With Pass in hand, I marched over to the library, and wandered around for a good five minutes until i managed to locate Dad in one of the silent rooms on the second floor. I opened the door, and prepared for the usual lateness lecture.

"Sorry Dad, I'm late because Professor Port-"

"Kept her after class to tell her _personally_ what a horrid job she did handling that Beowolf Alpha. I mean, it was obvious she's a rookie, her footwork was dodgy at best, and she nearly got crushed under the thing! The only grace she had was with that damned gun Ruby gave her, but I'm sure she worked some kind of targeting computer into it, no doubt, so even that can be considered a failure!"

"And hello again to you too, Weiss. Funny how we keep running into each other, it seems. _Anyway_, he gave me a pass for my lateness, so here you go."

The first thing I found peculiar was that Dad was standing up, his chair a discarded afterthought in the corner of the small room.

"Ah, yes of course. Take a seat between Weiss and Ruby there, and we'll continue with this semester's introduction."

I cautiously plopped down in the fabric seat near Weiss, and instead of even acknowledging her usual icy stare, I turned towards everyone else at the table.

Our group sat among a crescent shaped table, with Weiss being sat on the far right end, followed by Myself and , I was unfamiliar with the two kids on the other end of the table.

I found no words to describe the beauty of the woman next to Ruby. Her eyes glowed like molten lava, her hair was a matte black like volcanic ash, and slightly curled. Her pale pallor complemented her face gloriously, and she hid a small smirk amid her locks. If you constructed a body from fire and placed an angel's holy power within it, the resulting being was sitting in that chair. When she noticed I was observing her, she flipped her hair up and passed me a small wink. Needless to say, I quickly turned to her cohort, eager to hide my blush.

And then there was Coco. I remembered her face all too well; the designer glasses, the pink lipstick, the beret and the single hanging lock on her shoulder. It was weird to see her without her briefcase or her usual outfit, but I recognized her nonetheless. She passed me a small wave and a smile when I looked her way.

"Now, since you're the newbie here, I'll have Weiss and Ruby give you the general runthrough later, but for now I think some introductions are in order. If you all would be so kind as to introduce yourselves?"

Ruby was the first to speak up among us, nearly exploding from her seat to start the circuit up.

"Welcome to our class Rika! You already know me well enough, so I think I'll pass this off to Weiss."

"I have nothing to say to that illegitimate ingrate."

"_Weiss_, did we not just have a talk about this earlier? You will need to get over this eventually if you plan to do battle alongside each other, so I see no reason why-"

"Apologies Professor, but at this current juncture, I really couldn't give a damn if you see no reason, because I sure as hell do. Now, as I said, move it along."

I looked to Dad, and he was so busy trying to sate his rage towards this impeccably prideful girl that he barely noticed us speaking again.

"Well, while the Professor figures out which way to kill Ice Queen is best, allow me to continue the conversation. The name's Cinder Fall sweetie, and if I must say you are one of the cutest people I have met at this school during my stay."

Well, shit. Not only did I have a woman who wanted to kill me sitting right next to me, I also had a woman who could enslave an entire race sitting next to me as well. Cinder, like _the _Cinder that tried to kill Ruby before she joined Beacon? _THE CINDER THAT CURRENTLY COMMANDED THE WHITE FANG?! _Yeah, I think I definitely would be telling Ozpin about this little bit of information before long. Honestly, I was surprised Dad hadn't already, for I knew that he recognized her from the show. Well, no matter what happened, I couldn't allow her to believe that I knew who she was off of school grounds, or else she would likely send her little Assassins to silence me. I had to play it cool until I figured out what to do with what I knew.

"Well, gosh, it was just a compliment my dear, no need to go all silent on me! Unless, maybe, you were contemplating the appropriate pick up line?"

"What?! No, not at all, I was… Well was… y'know…"

"I'm afraid I don't, you'll just have to enlighten me, Darling."

"C'mon now, ease off her Cinder, not everyone here is busy sizing up your looks when they see you. Some people just don't know what to say around others."

Coco piped up from behind Cinder, and turned her eyes (presumably) from beneath her sunglasses, and tipped them down so she could see me without the darkening effect.

"You're cute, just like my Velvet, but I think the tail is a bit much, takes away from your torso too much, and the hair doesn't do you any graces either. Eyes glow like stars, but your pallor totally mismatches with the rest of your- Oh, don't mind me much, the ramblings of a Fashionista may sound insane to the normal person, but to us it means the world. But, in all seriousness, the name's Coco Adell, and before this year is out I am taking you on a shopping spree, and we are going to find you the perfect match for your looks, whether you like it or not."

"Well, putting aside your cutting observations at my physical state and your aggressive attempt to get me something nice, I think it's very nice to meet you, Coco, and you as well, Cinder. Now then, since we have the introductions out of the way, why don't we get back to the matter at hand, eh?"

"Well, I'm going to be completely honest right now, it's the first day back and I know for a fact none of you, save for Weiss, want to actually learn anything so I was just reviewing exam scores from last semester. Besides, the content of the course is all things I have introduced you to back home. I'd recommend a quick review session with the girls this week, and you should be pretty up to speed with our instruction."

" Forgive me for sounding cross, but that's some really basic stuff, are you sure you haven't done more?"

"This _is _a Basic Business class, so I was told to keep the content on the more rudimentary side of the spectrum."

Well, Ozpin just wanted to keep Dad or of his personal business, not give him a full time career, so I could see why it was a basic class, but it was slightly annoying to know I wouldn't be learning anything exactly new in this class. Well, either way I was getting some extra time with Dad, so I guess it wouldn't be that bad.

"Well, alright, I guess that will do. You can keep going with whatever you were doing before I walked in."

"Right, now then, I'll hand back your tests and we'll see what you all had the most issues with.

Cinder, you scored 91 out of 100

Weiss, you scored 99 out of 100

Coco, you scored 89 out of 100

And Ruby… You, scored 100 out of 100"

"Seriously, if you weren't my partner I would strangle you in your sleep sometimes, you know that?"

I wouldn't dare point out the fact that Weiss had lost in a _Business Test_, of all things, to someone of "Doughnut Levels of Intelligence", as she liked to put it. I think her personal attachment to Ruby was the only thing keeping her from ripping into Ruby like she had with me.

"Well, all that extra tutoring you and the Professor gave me really paid off. I mean, I was failing this class before you two decided to step in and save me."

Oh, I think i get it now. Weiss wasn't that angry because the results were derived from her own efforts. So, by some kind of odd extension, she only received a 99 because she focused so much on getting Ruby a good grade. Logical, if not a bit well natured for the usually cold Weiss. Although, I did have some kind of vague memory of the promise Weiss made to Ruby back in the first semester, so that might have had something to do with it.

"Well, even though you all did fairly well, I will admit I curved the scores a little to make up for your answers on the section regarding mergers. Therefore, the rest of class will deal with exactly those. Now, in your packets the section on mergers should begin on page 85, turn back to them and we'll review them again…"

* * *

For the rest of the time of class, I sat there looking off of Ruby's packet, bored out of my mind, dissatisfied with my own mood, and nearly sweating bullets trying to keep my cool next to Cinder. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was nervous enough trying not to make it look obvious I knew who she was, but she just seemed to give off this intense, well… _heat,_ and it made me sweat even more than I already was. When the bell sounded outside the room, I was silently praying thanks for Oum that my suffering was ended.

"Alright, we made good progress today so no homework, just make sure you all come in tomorrow ready for the full course. Rika, hang back a minute, and walk with me to lunch, I still owe you a proper meal since we didn't get to eat last time."

The way he said lunch sounded as if he was trying to code something to me, but I allowed the thought to submerse itself in my head before leaving.

"Hey, Tall, Grey, and Gorgeous, got a second?"

I looked to my left and saw Coco looking over my shoulder, looking rather eager.

"Yeah, sure, what's the matter?"

Coco leaned in closely, making my heart race to feel her face so close to mine, but not enough to the point where it showed on my face. After all the surprise and awkwardness in the last three weeks, my body was getting used to being uneasy.

"I know it's a bit sudden, but are you free on Saturday? You see, my roommate, she… Well, she has a bit of a crush on you, and I thought it would be a nice shock if she found out this weekend she gets to meet her little sweetheart face to face, and all alone. Would you, by any chance, want to meet her too?"

I was speechless. _She has a bit of a crush on you. _The only other she is Coco's team would be Velvet. I mean, she's pretty, but I'm not sure if I would date her. Wow, not even a day in public and someone was already enticed by me. It sounded a little bit pretentious and self-righteous, but I was kind of expecting it, in some kind of dark corner within my mind. I mean, It's common plot, the new girl in class always gets hit on the quickest. Look at almost any show and that's how it goes, and now was no difference.

"Coco, I-I don't know. I mean, where would we even go for a date?"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that, I'm handling all the planning, and making sure you want to do it. So, I'll ask again, do you want to?"

"I-I… Okay, I guess so."

"Great! I'll send you the details on your scroll later in the week, but for now keep quiet about it. Velvet doesn't know I'm doing this either, so don't let her catch on, got it?"

"I get it, absolute secrecy."

"Okay, see you later then."

Just like that Coco sprinted out of the room, leaving me with the expectations of my "date" on the weekend, as well as stares from Weiss and Cinder, who were still gathering their things in the room.

"Well, it seems our little hunk of chocolate has taken to the Big, Bad Wolf quite well. Oh, I wonder what she said to you. SO much secrecy with Beacon love."

"Hmph, I doubt she said anything at all. Most likely, she just wanted to tease her a little, get her thoughts flowing, just to build up for a nice letdown later. You'd like that, wouldn't you Rika?"

"Well, since I'm not a masochist and I don't enjoy having my heart crushed by others, no, I don't think I would enjoy that Weiss, but thank you for putting everything into perspective for me."

"Oh please, as far as I'm concerned, the more I can do to drag you back to reality, the better. The sooner you realize there is a lot more to this than it seems, the sooner you can get out of here."

On that sour note, she made for the door, and beelined for the exit.

"Seems like our little Ice Queen is a bit cross with you. Well, I've never seen her that bad, so you must have done something absolutely _devilish_ to deserve her wrath like that. Any ideas how that happened?"

Just then, Dad looked up from his projector machine, and whistled sharply.

"Enough Cinder. She'll tell you if she wants, but I think you've done enough gossiping today. Get on to wherever you need to go to."

"Alright, dearest Professor, I will see you tomorrow then."

Cinder flashed a tantalizing grin and a wink my way before departing, leaving me once again uneasy about myself.

"Good God, I get sick of that woman after an hour or so. Anyways, I'm glad you managed to survive your first morning, so congratulations on that. Tell me about it over some steak, that's the special today."

Alright, it was answers time now that everyone was gone.

"_**Special be damned, what the fuck is Cinder Fall still doing at Beacon, why are you using your legs, what the hell is wrong with Weiss, why are you teaching such a dumbshit class, and why does every single person of mention in this school seem to have some kind of stake in me?!"**_

Dad took a brief pause, seemingly expecting my outburst, and looked softly to meet my stressed gaze.

" 'Guess your morning wasn't that good then. Well, then allow me to explain a few things then. Every person of mention here, A.K.A everyone you know seems to have a 'stake' in you because you radiate more power than you realize, and they are noticing. People here don't look for mates based on their looks, they do it based on their Auras; well, in some degree anyways. In general, those with higher Aura levels attract those with Auras weaker than their own, while keeping things neutral with those of equal power. However, there is an upside to it. The effect of your pull will only be strong on those you spend the most time with, with others only feeling your lure in a dialed down manner. The way Ozpin explains it, it's some kind of evolutionary instinct to ensure that Aura users would remain together in order to preserve themselves. Now, it's all some kind of innate, fucked up power lust. So, in short, since you have the most powerful Aura on campus, you'll likely be chased around by quite a few people with an inexplicable interest in you. Whether or not you want to take them is your choice, but just be mindful that some people just want the bragging right of dating the strongest power on campus, y'know, the usual teenage bullshit you have to deal with."

…

"Secondly, I am '_teaching such a dumbshit class'_ because this is all I am qualified to teach, since Ozpin does have to abide by school employment regulations. He knows this is what I can manage, and allows me to do it. However, not a lot of kids think business classes are exactly helpful to their regimens, so I work with what I am given."

Keep going, you aren't done yet.

"Next, I am using my legs because the students will see me as weak if I try to teach them from a chair. I might be an old, lonely, and broken man, but I still have my pride,and I won't let it go simply because I don't enjoy using certain body parts."

…

"Now, this last one is a bit tricky to keep up with, and not to mention highly classified information, but since I doubt you will be able to keep yourself from killing Cinder yourself if I don't tell you, then I'll just have to-"

"Whoa, tell me what? What kind of information will keep me from blasting that Volcanic Psychopath into smithereens before she even knows I'm aware? What allows her mercy from that?"

"The fact that she is the only reason this kingdom still stands, that is what. Without Cinder Fall, we would be lost in the dark, with no clue as to what was going on in the underworld, and we would have all died long ago. Cinder Fall is our primary operative within the White Fang hierarchy, and it is her job to maintain her cover at all costs. She does what she does not because it is her idea, but because it is her _duty. _Essentially, as long as we have Cinder, we control the tide of conflict. Cinder belongs to us, body and soul."

* * *

**_Ok, I know what you are all thinking, and all I will say is this._**

**_ITS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, ITS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, OKAY GUYS?_**

**_Good, now then, a few notes on this chapter:_**

**_This is the last chapter I'll be writing on an "as it comes to me" basis, as I have recently drawn up a comprehensive story-line for the next ten chapters, so expect everything from here onward to be a bit more planned and organized.  
Cheers Guys, I'll see you all soon enough._**

**_Btw: Sean Astin came to my town today, and I got to take a pic with him. I think I need to go make my fifth meal and after-supper tea now to honor his Hobbit Touch gracing me. _**


	10. Chapter 9

"Ozpin, she is the literal enemy leader, and you're sitting here twiddling your thumbs instead of calling for every single person in this school to get their guns and kill this bitch. Sorry, but you really are fucking insane, you know that?"

I was pissed, plain and simple. The enemy was knowingly sitting among us, and no one was doing anything about it. I was almost twitching with rage as I stood in front of Ozpin's desk for what seemed like the millionth time. I could see the tendrils of my aura dissipating into oblivion as I tiraded, but I could honestly have cared less, it simply added to my case against Cinder.

"I must admit, you are better than some when it comes to self control, others would have likely tried to off her by now yourself, but my answer remains the same regarding Cinder Fall; as long as she continues-"

"-to do her duty to Vale and to Beacon faithfully she is granted full immunity from any and all criminal charges, yeah I get that, but what I'm questioning is what you are going to do when she walks into the city again with an army and a horde of Grimm behind her? I think it'll be a little bit too late for anyone to really do anything, won't it?"

"Please, Rika, think logically here; Do you really believe that we would grant that kind of status to someone who is a loose cannon? No, Cinder is one of the most meticulous planners I have ever seen, and she is not wont to act irrationally, or outside of her bounds. Not only that, it was asserted that she would be equipped with a failsafe, should her strategies begin to become too… disastrous for us to handle. The council has the power to release an instantly lethal toxin into her blood at any given moment. She knows fully well what is within her allowance and what is not."

"So, in essence, she can plan to crash a train into the city, have it unleash the entirety of a mountain full of Grimm upon a city, and get away with it?"

I was of course referring to the incident that nearly got two of Beacon's student teams killed and almost allowed Grimm full access into the city, all orchestrated by Roman and Cinder. As far as I could tell, Roman was still in Prison, but I didn't see that lasting very long for some reason.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. We control her every action, and are informed of everything before she even reports it to her commanders. We control the tide of this battle, and we are never unprepared for it as a result."

I could not believe this. In all honesty, it sounded like they were simply manipulating the White Fang to start a ruckus so they could swoop in and look like heroes. It was lunacy at its greatest. When I looked to Ozpin, he was staring at me intently behind the rim of his mug.

"I see it in your eyes; that look you get when you are completely perplexed by something and cannot at all agree with it. It is exactly as Lawrence described, and I must say it is quite threatening."

" Damn my expressions, Ozpin, I'm serious here! This doesn't add up at all, we're the good guys, why wouldn't you just have her dissolve the Fang if you really wanted control? If you really can control her, why not just end it all with a single stroke?"

"Because, my dear colleague, unlike Cinder, men and women are not so easily commanded. Those within the White Fang would see her actions as treason and simply appoint a new leader, ignoring her orders and cutting us off from the actions of the organization, essentially losing the war for us. The only way for us to win this fight against injustice is to control the injustice from the inside. We do not seek the destruction of the White Fang because it has brought long-withstanding social wrongs to the spotlight, and has established a foothold for many to speak out against them. As such, until we can achieve the kind of change we desire from the world, the Fang will remain under our control."

When you said it out loud, it made perfect sense, but it still felt totally wrong in every sense. Dear Oum, Blake would go ballistic if she were here right now. I can only imagine the kinds of threats she would make towards him if she could hear his explanations.

"Even still, why Cinder? You could have easily bribed Roman Torchwick to the same deal, and simply assassinated Cinder. Why pick her?"

"We didn't, she came to us."

"Wait... Come again?" I asked with genuine confusion.

" You see, Cinder was involved in the Fang from a young age, as a runaway from Atlas. She was from a very loving home, but her parents were more of the uptight, traditional type, see, and they were greatly opposed to early efforts of the Faunus Rights movement. Now, Mr. Fall hated his wife, and supposedly led a long affair with one of the Faunus maids in their home. In the end, they produced Cinder's half-sister, an illegitimate child that bore the mark of their greatest 'enemy'. She was born Faunus."

"Wait, she has a sister? Who?"

"Irrelevant right now. Anyways, Cinder watched them try to poison the infant's milk bottle the night she was born, and disowned her parents then and there."

"You've gotta be kidding. What kind of a lunatic poisons a newborn baby?"

" Cinder's thoughts exactly. She never imagined them possible of such an evil. It shattered her image of them irrevocably within five minutes. She snuck in while they were busy arguing, and took her sister, her father's wallet, and ran. Never once did she look back, and she never forgave them either. They ran for almost five years, Cinder learning smooth talk so she could 'convince' people to help her. Then, one day, she and her sister encounter a stray poster on the ground, an advertisement for the early Fang. Cinder sought them out, and there, they were raised like a family, and had a sense of purpose. With a nearly six year old sister in tow, Cinder, then only ten, started attending peace rallies in Atlas. This went on for years until one day, about a year ago, a rally for the Civil Rights movement in the capital went bloody. The Fang came equipped with weapons, and at the first sign of police resistance, they attacked. It was right around then the 'new' ideology of the Fang was taking hold, and this was their first exhibition of it. Cinder sat with her sister on the street corner, watching the innocent be slaughtered, men and women crying out for war, all the while nursing a bullet wound."

"Jesus, that's diabolical. What did she do after that?"

"It was reported that rally's leader was mortally wounded in the fighting, which ended after two days. When he died in police custody, the Fang sought to further their message to a new extent. They wanted to be sure that if something ever happened similarly, the police wouldn't dare kill anyone. And so, they put a child in charge of the Fang; they chose Cinder to be their new face."

"What? That's ridiculous, why the hell would you want a kid leading a Civil Rights…. Oh Oum."

"Exactly. In essence, they both proved their message spread even to the minds of the young, as well as provided an integrable image for the people to look to. The police wouldn't dare kill a kid, and even if she tried to do anything rash, the would only go so far as to arrest her, I mean, she was a human, how bad could she be?"

"You really have no idea." I mumbled under my breath

"After those two days, Cinder became disillusioned with the message the Fang was sending. She looked for an out, but instead, she was put in the spotlight. She panicked, and looked for any kind of way to remove herself and her sister. However, she was only greeted with dead ends. With the Fang plotting her ascension to leadership, under their guidance, Cinder knew it was hopeless for her to run, but still sought asylum for her ward. The day before she was announced as the new premier, she reached out to General Ironwood, and made a plea with him. She was willing to offer anything in exchange for the protection of her sister, and so the General made her an offer."

"I imagine that offer is currently what binds her to the Fang today?"

"It is, indeed. It was agreed that so long as Cinder became our Pawn within the Fang, and stayed in good standing, her sister would be kept within safety's reach, and away from the Fang. Right now, she is here, among the most talented warriors in the world, a nearly impenetrable network of defense against whatever may come."

"Christ, Cinder really must hate the Fang that much, she's willing to be a part of it in order for her sister to be safe. Ok, fine, you win, maybe, just _maybe_ Cinder could be alright, but I still don't understand one thing; If she is supposed to be pulling the strings of the Fang, why is she here, of all places?"

"Why, the Vytal festival of course. She _is_ impersonating a representative from Atlas, after all, so it is only natural that she be in attendance. And by that, I mean she formulated a plan to get close to her sister for a while while it was deemed logical for her to be here . The Fang thinks she is busy sabotaging the main enemy force, but she actually spends most of her time enjoying her classes and catching up with her sister."

My head was still spinning from all of the information flooding me. Honestly, in the last three weeks I'd had to come to terms with so many new facets to my daily life, I felt like I was going to explode. Now, it just so happens that the person who I 100% thought was an enemy is turning out to be some kind of distant ally? It really was as Ozpin said, when I first met him. Monty Oum merely painted a picture of this world, he didn't tell the entire story. A lot happened behind the scenes of RWBY, it was quite frightening to see how little detail we actually had of the realm.

"Well, I do say today has been quite enlightening. First, I'm assaulted by the fuckhead Winchester, Blake keeps me from being crushed while maintaining her silky smoothe personality , then I have to test out my new weapon on a fucking Beowolf Alpha, and to top it all off, Weiss still despises me for existing, and now the person who I thought was pure sarcastic evil is turning out to be an okay person. Best first day of class ever."

All throughout my rantings, I had been pacing in front of Ozpin's desk, rapidly at times, slowly at others, depending on my mood and articulation. I stopped directly in front of Ozpin's form before looking down at him.

"I know you said this was going to be hard, but Jesus fucking Christ I'm exhausted and it's not even five yet. I need a drink."

"Well, the legal drinking age in Atlas is Seventeen. Show a bar your I.D, and you are bound to get accepted for a few rounds."

"Now see, that would be nice, if I could leave the campus, which I can't because of the fucking Council and their restrictions. Ugh, I am so mad right now I could SCREAM!"

And scream I did. I fled to the open balcony and let out the most shrill shriek I could, holding it out for as long as my vocal chords would stand. When I finished, I stood back, took a few deep breaths, and looked around. My head drooped low, granting me a full view of my Aura-covered form once again. My emotional flares had been calming down as Ozpin told his tale, but in the midst of my frustration they had erupted again. The color of my emotions seemed to match the dark afternoon sky, quite poetic.

After a while, Ozpin stood silently next to me, sipping tacitly on his mug, a scarf draped around his neck. I would have been cold, too, had it not been for my insanely warm combat gear.

"Hm, it seems you still haven't quite gotten a hold on your emotions yet. If you want my personal observation, I do not think this campus is the best place for you to come to terms with your personal feelings, but, as of the moment, I doubt you will find a much better place. Go back to your dorm, get some sleep, and prepare for tomorrow. You are exhausted, and will need all of your strength, since I believe you are scheduled for a duel in the afternoon."

"Oh, just brilliant, I get to have my ass handed to me in front of my friends, great. All of that 'profile building' you told the other professors to do will all go to waste, it seems."

"Don't fret over it now, that will only make it worse. Trust your instincts, and you will come out just fine. But, for now, I think you should go, and do whatever you need to do before the sun sets. No one wants to be out in the dead of night in this weather."

"Alright, whatever you say, Professor. I guess I'll talk to you in the morning. Oh yeah, while I'm thinking about it, whatever happened to me getting a bracelet like the one Dad has? Y'know, for the Council's 'examinations'?"

"I deemed it unnecessary, that is why. Do you have any other questions before you go?"

I thought for a moment while looking out over the campus, wondering. Suddenly, the thought hit me.

"You said Cinder's sister was here at Beacon. What is her name?"

Ozpin turned his gaze back toward the horizon as I asked this, seemingly spotting something that was of interest. However, it did not last long, for he again turned his attention back to me.

" Elodie, her name is Elodie. She is a first year, like yourself. However, I would advise against trying too hard to make contact with her, if that is your intention. She is a very humble soul, as I have never heard her speak to anyone aside from her team or her sister. At first i thought her a mute, even. She is very slow to trust someone, and even after she has learned you inside and out, a wall of indifference still divides her from reality. However, if she really has a reason to see you, she will not spare a moment in hunting for you."

"Oh boy, one of the cool, indifferent types, my favorite. Well, thank you, anyways, I guess I'll see you later, then."

Before I departed from the balcony, I took a moment to truly see the horizon I had been blankly staring at throughout the entire conversation. I could easily look out across the campus and beyond, glimpsing a majestic view of the sea beyond Vale. The sea was set ablaze with every warm color you could imagine, and seemed to battle the encroaching dark clouds coming in from the North. It was amazing, like something out of a video game (go figure) that would take someone weeks to create on a screen. Seeing it in the flesh, with my own eyes, felt incredible, even made me feel a little anxious for what else there was to see.

I turned around, and strode back towards the elevator. When i reached the bottom floor, and exited, I was greeted by the frozen kiss of snow. I stood there marveling in its attributes; small, fluffy crystals, much unlike the polluted ice from back home. Remnant seemed a much more natural world as opposed to Earth, and it comforted me somewhat. Soon enough I found myself speaking to the air and the snow, using the atmosphere as a catalyst for me to vocalize my thoughts and feelings. It made me think of my mother, in particular.

"Heh, it's your favorite weather, Mom. I'm sorry I left you, but nothing would ever let me redo that decision. I've found something unique here, and I plan to live it to the fullest extent, I promise that. Sure, I really have no fucking clue whats going on right now, there's so much being thrown at me, sometimes I forget I'm a walking nuclear reactor. But that's what i'm here for, to make sure I don't hurt anyone with what i've been given. So, I guess all that's left to do now is go onwards, right? I love ya, ma, I hope I get to see you again someday..."

Whenever I felt really pressured and alone, i would talk to myself. Spouting out something poetic and inspirational always helped me feel better, and right now it served to do just that. With my confidence slightly appeased, I began the trek through the quietly falling snow to the dorms.

* * *

I positioned myself outside my room, waiting at the door. Instead of fishing out my key, I decided to simply knock and hope someone was there. I rasped my knuckle on the door a few times, and waited for it to open.

"Coming, just a second."

The door swung open slightly, and I was greeted by Blake, who had changed out of her uniform for her usual gender-swapped butler outfit and boots.

"Oh, Professor, I-I mean, Rika, you're here. So I guess you were telling the truth then, about being my roommate."

"I try not to be untruthful, if I can help it, so yes, i was telling the truth. I just got back from a meeting with Ozpin, actually, and came back to start on my homework. May I come in?"

She suddenly looked flustered, and started shaking her head profusely.

"Oh course, of course! It's your room too, I-I'm not the one who can say you aren't allowed in! Please."

She stepped aside, and I walked in, throwing my bag on the bed and laying down sideways along it.

"Holy Hell, I need a nap after today. Honestly, since I got here, it's been nothing but one miraculous realization after another, and I'm starting to get really sick of it. Y'know, when's the normalcy set in?"

"That's just the thing my friend, there is no normalcy for people like us, our entire lives are full of spontaneity and surprise. That;s just something we get used to over time, I guess."

"If you can't handle the stress, then leave, don't sit here and complain to us about it."

Unknown to me, Weiss had been sitting on the bunk next to me, reading an official-looking packet with a schnee logo stamped on the front of it.

"Oh, glad to see you moved in, finally. Now that you're finally here, can I get an assurance you won't assassinate me if I fall asleep?"

"I have nothing more to say to you, swine, and as far as I'm concerne-"

Oh, _Hell no,_ I'm not gonna sit here and listen to this bullshit again.

"As far as you're concerned, you might not have anything more to say to me, and I won't object to that, but _I still have something to say to you, _so if you would be so kind, simply allow me to do so before you spout of more self-righteous bullshit into the atmosphere, infecting the rest of us."

"Rika!"

"No Blake, it's the truth. I'm tired of her unfounded scorn, so I'm going to lay everything out for her, and let her judge for herself whether I am really good enough for her or not. Since you are here, I'll kill two birds with one stone and tell you both the story of how I got here. To Beacon. More specifically, to Remnant."

"Wait, what do you mean, to Remnant? Where else would you come from?"

"Well… That's really where my story starts. Here, sit down, this is going to take a while."

* * *

"To stay, and know you had the chance to see the dead living again, or to go and forgo your entire life in exchange for seeing a loved one again. How in all that is holy did you pick?"

"I went with my gut drive, Blake, and my gut told me this wasn't something you could simply pass up and then forget about. I want to live with no regrets, and I think I would have heavily regretted it if I passed the Headmaster up."

"It takes a lot of courage to do that, I must say. However, I'm more curious about the fact that you used to be a man. Anything else you feel like adding on to that particular topic?"

"Hey, don't look at me like that! It's not like I was given a choice, and besides, not a lot has changed for me as a result of the body swap. Sure, I'll have to deal with periods, longer hair, makeup, bras, and yeast infections, but it's all residual compared to the fact that I can be with Dad again."

"What about being a Faunus? You know people have a serious problem with them, and, coming from the perspective of an ex-faunus hater, you are a prime target. 'The first Faunus professor at Beacon in three hundred years', that's bound to set some people off, like Cardin, for instance."

Weiss had spoken then for the first time since I began speaking about my past. She was looking at me with a stern look, but one more leaning towards serene curiosity than blind hatred as it had been before. An improvement, I guess.

"To be honest, I don't have any kind of problems with being a Faunus. Hey, where I come from, people go out of their way to dress up like a Faunus, just to look cool, so this is kind of an upgrade for me."

I wiggled my ears a tad bit and flung my tail out in front of me to emphasize my changes. Aside from the choice few in school who I hated anyways, Faunus at Beacon didn't seem to get that bad of a rap.

Meanwhile, Blake was sitting there, wide eyed at my statements.

"What? People want to be Faunus on Earth? Wow, that sounds lovely, to simply not have to worry about being myself anymore."

"Oh, it's not at all perfect, considering we judge people based on their skin color, nationality, ethnicity, economic background, political views, and pretty much everything else. Being made fun of for having a set of cat ears really sounds like an improvement compared to Earth. Grass is always greener on the other side, it seems."

"We all have our problems, no one is perfect. Still, to think you went through all of that, just to be with your father again, it is quite commendable, your love for him."

"Pfft. You call it commendable, I call it expectation. If you weren't willing to cross into another dimension to see your parent again, after you saw him put six feet under with your own eyes, then you don't deserve to say you loved them, in all truthfulness. I simply did what i felt was right, and now I get to be a Huntress with my heroes, an added bonus, all things considered."

"Right… Heroes, because you were somehow able to watch us from another dimension and see the entirety of our first two semesters through the eyes of another. This all sounds fabricated if you ask me. I would have called security down here to throw you out if I didn't know you were telling the truth, having seen you blast into this very room myself."

In all honesty, I was hoping Weiss would be even a little bit supportive of my story, but it seemed I was out of luck in that department.

"Look, i know this is a lot to swallow in one sitting, but trust me, I've been dealing with my own set of reality-altering breakthroughs this week as well, so I understand the feeling. All I'm really asking right now is a little time to figure myself out before you try to run me off of the campus I travelled through space and time to get to. Surely that can't be too much, can it?"

Weiss hardened her eyes, even for a millisecond, back to her old veneer, before reverting back to her confused tranquility. She sighed, then stood up and walked up to me.

"I suppose… not entirely much, but I will refuse to call you a Professor still. It is unfathomable to my mind that someone who is still a student themselves can teach anything. A Professor is someone who has achieved such a degree of perfection in their field they can share their knowledge with the world. I do not know you very well, Rika, but I hope that in the coming weeks you will be able to prove to me that you possess such a mastery. Do I make my point clear?"

"Yes, quite clear Snow Angel."

"And if you so much as _TRY_ to call me one of those idiotic pet names during class, I will cut your down where you stand!"

'Whoa, whoa, okay, easy there Weiss. Geez."

"Well, then i am satisfied… for now. She may stay. Now then, I have a merger analysis to forward to HQ before seven, I'm off to the comms tower, I'll be back later." Resuming her impersonal, formal posture, she exited without the slightest sound being uttered from her movements, leaving Blake and I alone with our thoughts. While I knew I had apprehension written all over my expression, I could not place her feelings. Unless she spoke of them, Blake's thoughts were not known to me. That was the only thing I had come to learn of Blake during the day, that she did not wear her mind on her sleeve like I did.

"Your face wears the wrong emotions, Rika."

Her eyes were now staring into mine, leaving me speechless and confused yet again. She had this dominating aura about her, that made you want to just listen to her, it was sad she didn't speak more to utilize it.

"W-what do y-you mean?"

"I can read your face like a book. You wear the face of anxiety, of fear for the future, and disappointment, I think. Maybe Weiss didn't turn out like you'd hope she would have?"

"I won't lie, I _might _have hoped Weiss and I could get along, but now it seems that dream has crashed into the ocean. Say, if my face reads anxiety, then why is it wrong?"

Blake paused for a moment, then rose from the bedside across from me where she dwelled. She bounced into the spot next to me on my bed, and looked even more deeply into my irises.

"You and I… I can already tell we are alike. We have learned to smile, even when we are sad, to hide our true feelings so that others can continue on without having to worry about us. We try to play the kindred spirits, the wounded warriors that move invisibly behind the battles, but in the end we are as much a part of them as anyone else. Because no one expects us to attack, our blows hit that much more. What I'm trying to say is, you and I are so used to hiding what we really feel, because we are afraid our emotions will be a burden for others to deal with. But, I learned the hard way that if you do, then no one ever knows you get hurt, and then you simply internalize your entire psyche."

I blinked in surprise, that she could analyze the inner machinations of my mind so easily.

"Wow… And they say that Weiss is the most intelligent one…"

Underneath a slight blush, Blake continued

"You're missing my point. I am trying to say that even though we all have a lot to worry about here, that doesn't mean your troubles are a burden. All four of us are here to help you, Rika, and you more than anyone else deserves that help; no one should have to go through what you are going through alone, all of us want to help you, even Weiss. I don't know if you planned on asking us for help with your problems or not, but I'm asking you in advance; don't be afraid of us, we are just people, like you. Pretty outfits and oversized ballistics don't change anything about who we are- well, except for Ruby."

"I hear that, sister. The girl is a plain old weapons freak."

"Well, regardless, I hope you will take what I said to heart. We all might not have the problems as you, but we've all been through enough to know how to help."

"I got it, I got it, loud and clear Doctor Belladonna."

Blake seemed satisfied with my agreement not to hide myself, and stood up from the bed. She wanted back to her own bunk, and resumed her reading where she left off. I remained where I was, ruminating the encounter with my teammates. While Weiss finally agreed to lay off of me for while, Blake seemed to shatter my impression of her personality in one simple conversation. She seemed a lot more approachable than I had imagined, pleasantly surprising me. I had a lot more to learn about all of them, and it definitely showed. I began to stand up,when my foot brushed a small container underneath my bed. Curious, I tentatively felt around under the bed frame until my hand came across a handle. I pulled on it, and before my eyes was a plain wooden box, and a rather large one at that.

"Odd, I didn't bring anything like this with me to the dorms. I wonder whose it is"

Blake chimed in from her bed without even looking up again, " The Headmaster came by earlier and dropped it off. Ruby was here at the time and stashed it under there. He didn't say what it was."

"Although I do think i have an idea of what it is..."

I opened the case's latches and threw the lid open with gusto. When the dust from the case cleared, I was greeted with the second best surprise I had seen since I arrived.

"Oh Fuck yes, come to daddy my sweet!"

Inside the massive case were two of the most well kept instruments I had ever seen in my life. They both shone like Diamonds, but passed off an older, antique lacquer look that old things had. On the left, the larger of the two, was a Tenor Saxophone, ordered to my specifications by the letter, shining with a dull yellow glint. On the right, in the spaces next to it, were the pieces for a Clarinet, my native instrument.

"Damn, the Headmaster didn't waste any time getting these, that's for sure! I only just put in my order three hours ago..."

"Welcome to the most respected and well funded school on the planet, Professor. Sounds like standard issue to me. "

"Well, forgive me. Public Education back home isn't the most money heavy thing, so getting premier service like this is kind of a treat. Now then, time to see what these babies sound like. Oh, you don't mind, do you?"

Blake looked above the margins of her book, and nodded.

"You forget i'm an Instrumentalist, I've learned to block out many things, the sound of my own instrument included. You could blare away on the things for hours and I still wouldn't be bothered."

"Oh, much obliged."

I decided to try out the clarinet first, since it was my main instrument. After about ten minutes of going over my equipment and making sure my reed was placed properly, I finally began to play. I went slowly at first, testing the harmonic resistance of each note as I went up and down the range, low to high. My ears were more sensitive than before, so I needed to use caution when hitting the Altissimo notes, otherwise I would blow out my hearing after a few minutes. I suddenly realized another use for the earplugs I had Ruby order me as I finished up with my assessment.

For fun, I decided to play something from memory, something groovy with a nice beat. I went through my internal catalogue until I decided upon my piece: The Carnival of Venice.

Sure, it was originally made for trumpet, but I had a habit of not really caring about that sort of thing. I particularly liked a variation made for clarinet, and decided to learn it for myself.

I began, going off of my memory, trying my best to place the rapid notes and varying keys, all while not looking like a fool in front of Blake. For all I knew, she could and would criticize me for whatever I did wrong, also I would feel like an ass.

The song was long, so I decided to cut it short, and end it in the middle, giving myself time to breathe. Ozpin certainly wasn't playing around with me, the Clarinet he bought was of exquisite design, beautiful make, and superb sound. It certainly hadn't been cheap, but the thought drew me back to Blake's comment about Beacon's funding. What drew me out of the trance, however, was a small applause breaking out from Blake.

"My, my, I didn't know you could play so well, especially from memory, but then again you are the Professor here, you were picked for a reason."

"Oh, please, it was nothing, I can barely hit a high A flat, and my intonation is atrocious, not to mention the fact that I missed notes galore."

"Even so, you kept going, never stopping, and filling in the blanks with your own creations, making the piece your own. You had errors, yes, but you didn't let them define your playing, that's something I think is very advanced for a young player to do. Not even I can do that, maybe not even Weiss. "

"Tell me, Blake, does anything called Jazz mean anything to you?"

"Jazz? No, I've never heard of it, what is it?"

"A musical style on Earth, unlike any other. See, Classical music is defined by precise motion and deliberate actions, but Jazz is something entirely different; it removes things such as intonation marks, accents, and even some rhythm marks, allowing the player freedom to do with it what they will. At many junctions in Jazz music, there are improvised solos, where the player must create a melody on their own from the bass chords and key signatures given, all while keeping in time."

Blake looked at me with narrowed eyes as I spoke. "I don't believe you. Music without any rules would just be you sitting there spewing out notes at random, that would sound horrible."

"Oh, but just wait, I have the two primary tools of Jazz in my possession; the Clarinet, the pioneer of the genre, and the Saxophone, its modern spotlight. Here, I'll show you some of it."

I put aside the clarinet and pulled out the Tenor. I positioned my neck strap on my shoulder and fitted my mouthpiece just as carefully as I did with the Clarinet. Something in my innate subconscious told me I knew how to play this thing, but to be honest I had never picked one up until now.

It was heavier than I expected, and rather unwieldy compared to the nimble piece of wood that sat on the bed in front of me. I was banking on that glimpse of freebie knowledge I had somehow picked up from the transit into Remnant to guide me through it, but it was a little bit late to reconsider as well.

"Well, here goes nothing, I guess."

I took in breath, and let my fingers do the talking for me. It was magical, like all of a sudden I knew exactly what to do, where every note was, and how exactly to position my mouth and hands. It was a little bit shocking, but something clicked in my head, and before I knew it, I was pulling the thing out of my mouth, shaking. I wasn't even sure if It was correct, but hey, a lot of things had been that way, so I wasn't worried.

"By Oum, that was incredible Rika! What was it that you played?"

"Nothing that has ever been written, I can tell you that much. I simply went off of a key I had in mind, and chose a tempo, the applied a swing feel to it and played what came to me. They say Jazz cannot be taught as easily as any other kind of music, simply because it is such a personal experience. As for the instrument itself, I kinda somehow picked up how to play it on my way here, I guess?"

Blake recovered from her moment of amazement and changed, slightly, to a more demure posture. "Music itself is personal, that's simply a given. However… I think I am very much interested in this 'Jazz' you play. Would you teach me sometime?"

"I, uh… I'm not sure. I'm still getting used to this whole teaching thing, so I'm not sure I will be al that good, and my skills in Clarinet aren't that good, see, and-"

"Let me rephrase that statement then." Blake moved herself closer to me, more so than I would deem comfortable, and continued with a rather determined look in her eyes. "You are going to teach me Jazz, outside of the regular lessons you will be giving me, because as a Professor it is your duty to ensure any student that needs your help is given it. Remember?"

I was blown away at her sheer overwhelming power. This was a Blake I had no idea existed, and honestly I was speechless. Maybe it was just because she was so close to me, or maybe because I was really nervous talking with her to begin with, but all I could do was stammer out a simple "Ok" in response.

Smiling, she backed off, and returned to her bunk, nearly jumping the entire distance to the top, and resumed her earlier position with her book. Seeking to not embarrass myself further, I simply put away the instruments in the jumbo case and stored them in the closet next to my clothes. I remembered to put my uniform in the laundry chute as well, so it would be clean for classes the next day. Instead of trying to make another hopeless conversation with the smug-looking Blake, I decided to instead focus on the massive amount of catch-up work I had been refusing to do for the majority of the day.

"Oh well, at least I'm good at managing procrastination."

"Oh, you too?"

I swiveled my eyes to the door, where Ruby had just entered with Yang in tow. Both of them looked rather sweaty, and Yang looked about ready to pass out. She waddled into the bathroom, catching her hair in the door and emitting a blast of flame so powerful it flowed from under the door.

"I think we can assume Yang is a little bit tired. How are you still unfazed?"

"Oh, I am tired all right, I'm just better at hiding my exhaustion than Yang, and to be honest I don't think she had the best day either, so she is a little bit grumpy right now."

"Well, can't say I blame her for being touchy on a bad day, I practically wear my emotions on my sleeve, so you can usually tell when something is wrong."

Giggling, Ruby bounced over to my side and hugged my shoulder fondly. "That's what makes you one of the rare breed, the sacred 'easy to deal with' species."

"Good Oum, there's a name for me now. Well, anyways, that's nice and all, but I gotta get started on all this studying. Do you two have anything to work on tonight?"

"Yeah, I have the textbook work Goodwitch gave us, and the notes for Oobleck too. I assume you need some help with your make-up work too?"

"If you have a spare moment, it would be a big help. I've been poring over the page on Beowolf anatomy for days, but I still can't seem to remember where the third heart is."

Ruby set her bag down on the bunk next to mine, and made her way over to the desk where I was sitting.

"Here, let me run it through with you…"

* * *

The hours ticked away quickly, seeming to melt in between coffee breaks and chapters read. Essentially I was learning ten years worth of studies in three weeks, and although I was making good headway, it wasn't enough to ensure I would succeed at Beacon. I was still clueless on a lot of topics, and time was running out. From what the girls told me, semesters picked up in chaos pretty quickly, so I wouldn't have long to study every day before I would be sent out on expeditions, field trips (aka hunts) and various other functions demanding my attention, not even taking into account my responsibilities as the Band DIrector.

But, the only thought that kept me going through the night was that the longer I sat here and absorbed information, the more chance I had at staying close to Dad. All night, I kept that hope with me, and powered through the worst of it.

Around 2 in the morning, I slammed the book shut and called it quits. Ruby was already passed out beside me, and Yang had succumbed to exhaustion hours ago. She was dozing lightly in her bunk, with Blake doing the same above her. Weiss was the only one still awake, diligently filling out her forms, and other manifestos for the Schnee corp. As expected, she had finished the work for the semester over break, and was focused on the company as of late. How she managed to live like that was beyond me, but it simply added more reality to the view I already had of her; the diligent student, the overzealous scholar, the no-life.

"Going to bed at last, are we? I hope you realize that only getting five hours of sleep will not sustain you long at Beacon."

"Care to explain why you are up so late, then?

"The clock of money is never-ending, never-resting, and omnipresent. Whether or not I sleep, there is still money being made or lost, and it is my duty to ensure that we, as a whole, earn more than we lose. Therefore, the amount of sleep I get is irrelevant compared to the amount of money I make the company by staying up and filing these reports."

"...It hurts me a little bit when you talk like that, Weiss."

Weiss turned her head so fast it looked like a twitch to me. "What did you just say?"

"I said it hurts me when you talk like that. Depreciating yourself for the sake of a corporation is not at all healthy, and I hope you recognize it as such. Your time here at Beacon, and the life you will live outside of it, is infinitely more valuable than any kind of profit your company will make in a Millennia. You are living, breathing, and feeling, whereas a company is simply a tool for man to achieve his goals. The user putting out more work than the tool is simply illogical, and I think you are smart enough to realize all of this on your own. I just don't know why you aren't willing to fight for yourself."

Weiss was unmoving, simply staring at me with her usually cold stare. Finally, after a long and awkward pause, she whispered out an answer so small it could be mistaken for a pygmy mouse.

"You know nothing… Don't act like you know me, because even if you _think_ you do, you could not be farther from the truth… Goodnight, Rika."

Weiss hastily stood up from the chair, and made way for the closet. Moments later, she nearly leapt into bed, and imitated a fake sleep, with her back turned to my bunk. That all left me with the biggest "I fucked up I should have just kept my mouth shut" feeling I could remember having, and deep pit in my stomach. Eventually, after sorting through all my feelings and ensuring I wouldn't implode from the guilt, I slipped into my plain nylon pants and a tank top, brushed my teeth clumsily, and attempted to sleep without being killed by the aura of pure animosity coming from the bed next to me. Ruby remained asleep alone at the desk, but I was too depressed to remember to wake her up, in all truthfulness.

Honestly, sometimes I just needed to play to my own label and shut my fucking mouth. I'd have a lot less problems that way.

* * *

_**Haitus Over. Series Onward. HYPE ACTIVATE.**_


	11. Chapter 10

"Dear Oum, why does this have to happen to me? Of all people?"

Needless to say, I was sweating bullets. Goodwitch had just announced over the intercom that the pairings for the duels would be arranged randomly from a lottery system. The entire first year class was sitting in the bleachers, and I was fairly certain any of them could and would pound me into the Dirt. Except maybe Phyrra, she was nice enough to not completely destroy me. Either way, my odds weren't good.

"Hey, what are you so worried about, you have my sweetheart 2.0 on your side, there's no way you can lose!"

"While I appreciate your confidence, Ruby, I seriously doubt my skills with this thing. I mean, I dont even have a name for it yet, let alone the skills to use it!"

Yang leaned into my side, and began to pat my ears, oddly enough.

"No need to get all droopy eared on us, Rika. Just because you don't have any idea what you're doing doesn't mean you can't win! Look at Jauney boy, he's been clueless from day one, but he can still take a hit. "

I was so scared, my ears were trying to hide in my hair, with little luck. All they could do was lay flat on my hair, giving me the look of a scared little dog, which was what I felt like in every sense. I was even considering wrapping my tail around myself for an added sense of comfort, but was resisting doing it in public.

" Rika, don't fret over it, half of these people just look at their scrolls while the duels go on anyhow, so even if you lose, you won't exactly be embarrassing yourself. Think of it as a learning opportunity, if anything else. It's the perfect chance to gauge yourself against your peers."

"While the analysis is appreciated, Blake, nothing is going to help me feel better right now. At this point all I can do is wait and hope I get someone I can at least lose honorably to."

And wait we did. The class remained seated in the mini-stadium surrounding the battle platform, all the while discussing strategy and tactics. After a time, Ruby turned to me with a curious grin on her face.

"Now that I think about it, you _haven't_ given Sweetheart 2.0 a proper name yet, have you?"

"It's been on my mind, and I have a few ideas, but I'm not sure what to call her."

"We have some time, so tell me these 'ideas' you have. "

"Alright. Well, at first I thought Jody, my mom's name, but that would be a little bit weird, carrying my mom around with me. Next, I thought Pristine Death, because you made this thing so damn shiny, but that would be a bit cliche, so I axed that. Finally..."

"Oooh, what what what, I have to know!"

"... Arcturus. On Earth, it's the largest visible sun from the planet. She gleams like a small sun, and fires with just as much force. What do you think?"

Ruby didn't say anything for a few seconds, she just smiled with her eyes closed. Then, she slowly opened them, and turned towards me.

"Yes."

"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS, THE LOTTERY HAS BEEN COUNTED, THE MATCHES WILL NOW BE LISTED ON THE MAIN SCREEN IN MATCH ORDER."

With that, the giant screen lit up with about a hundred names, all paired into fifty groups. Instead of getting up to get closer, I simply stood up and scanned the board for my name. Much to my dismay, it wasn't hard, I was the third pair.

MATCH 3: CLARENCE, RIKA VS. ARC, JAUNE

"Huh... Well aint that interesting..."

"Well now, this is _quite _interesting, isn't it?" mused Weiss. " You get to beat up the large yellow idiot that has been stalking for half of a year, I am quite jealous. Although, if you somehow lose, you will be labeled worse than the class idiot. I would make your victory swift and clean, to save yourself that trouble."

"Im curious to see how Jaune will be in a fight against me. I'm a bit clueless about his fighting style as well."

" He's a tank. He sits there and takes your blows until you've tired yourself out, then he charges you full force and tries to take advantage of your weakness. But, the reason he keeps losing is because all of us are so well conditioned we can wear him down before he wears us down. His battles of attrition always end badly because of this."

"Thats annoying, Yang, but not surprising. He doesn't have much of an offense so he plays to his defensive strength. How about his reflexes?"

"I've always managed to get a reversal off on him, but with Speed being my semblance it's not that hard to do. Against someone like Cardin, he struggles, and against Blake, he crumbles. So I would guess he has close to no reflexes."

"So, in other words, I can batter him with shots to his back and side, maybe a headshot, and he won't be able to counter me in time?"

"Bingo. That sounds like a good strategy to me."

"Alrighty then. Sounds like a plan. Now I just have to wait for our fight. Who's before us anyways?"

"First match is Cardin and Nora, then after that is Coco against some girl named Elodie."

"Hm, that should be interesting. I hear she's the silent mysterious type, I wonder how she fights."

The whole team simply shrugged their shoulders and turned to watch the first fight. Nora and Cardin both took to the arena, and readied their giant weaponry, waiting for the buzzer to sound.

At the sound of the horn, Nora blasted towards Cardin with the aid of an explosion from her launcher. Cardin did his best to block, but the sheer force of her hammer hitting his face was too much. He hit the wall behind him, nearly cracking the metal around his impact crater. However, he was anything but out, as he recovered quickly, and initiated his own charge, albeit much slower than that of Nora.

With a great windup, he put every ounce of muscle into his swing, aiming for Nora's abdomen. The massive mace came home to its target, but Nora's Arua kicked in, taking the brunt of the blow.

I was amazed. "It looks like two Ursa fighting to the Death. That is, if Ursa could use Giant fucking hammers."

No one responded, as they were all watching the Aura feeds on their scrolls. Cardin's meter was far below Nora's, but she was hardly untouched either. One good blow from either one of them could end the match, it looked like. Nora took that initiative, switching back to her launcher form, and unloading her entire chamber onto Cardin. Explosion after explosion rocked the arena, spawning a pink smoke screen to block our view. The entire audience was watching now, waiting for the sulfur to clear. After a few agonizing moments, we saw Nora, beaming over the still form of Cardin, prancing around him, most likely humming some rendition of her theme song, "Queen of the Castle".

"The match has concluded, the winner is Nora Valkyrie. Miss Valkyrie, while your stamina continues to amaze us, your lack of control does as well. Against a Grimm horde, such a lack of Ammunition management would be highly dangerous. And you, Mister Winchester, would benefit greatly from diversifying your arsenal. Those muscles will not be effective against a nevermore while you are grounded, among other things. Next two fighters, please step forward. Miss Adell and Miss Fall, please prepare for battle, Miss Clarence and Mister Arc, you are on deck."

Nora strutted off the stage, Cardin trailing behind, nearly seething with Salt as he walked. While it was quite enjoyable to see him so visibly annoyed, I was more focused on the next match.

We waited for an odd while until, finally, Coco took her place on the arena. She made it look more like a runway than anything else, but I wasn't really sure what else to expect, she practically radiated a fashion sense, and she always wore something pretty no matter where she went. Now, she strutted with a purpose; to mow down her opposition.

Speaking of opposition, the girl I expected to be Elodie walked in calmly and silently behind her. The girl looked to be about 5 feet tall, but I wasn't able to tell much else, as she wore a heavy cloth cloak over herself, covering nearly every inch of her body, save her nose. However, I did manage to pick out what looked to be the end of a sword scabbard poking out from beneath the cloak's end. What she had underneath besides that was a mystery.

"So, this is the elusive Elodie Fall we've been hearing about. She's not that tall, and she seems really keen on hiding whatever it is she has beneath that cloak. I wonder what it is…"

"Rika, I think it would be better for you to just shut up and listen right now. None of us can explain what Elodie is about to do, so try try your best to keep up."

Blake's short cutoff of my musings startled me, but it served the purpose of refocusing my attention on the arena.

"Combatants… Begin!"

With the sound of the horn again, the battle commenced. Coco wasted no time in readying her Gatling Gun and letting loose a hail of bullets. However, what got me worried was that Elodie made no attempt to dodge any of them. The cloaked figure simply stood in the middle of Coco's maelstrom of lead, doing nothing but waiting patiently. I was more than nervous for what kind of surprise she had in store after that, but I wasn't about to voice that concern and ruin the moment.

Coco's gun began to overheat, and she finally let the trigger go. While she was busy reloading, most likely confused as to why her target was still standing, everyone was visibly locked on Elodie. A single hand went up to her hood, and pulled it back, slowly and dramatically. When the hood feel to her shoulders, I was enamoured. I wasn't able to tell if she had any kind of eye color, as all I saw was a deep black where her eyes were. Her face was petite and shaped, much like that of Cinder's, and her hair… Well I wasn't sure if it really counted as hair in the first place. What fell from her head was a singular braid, an interlocking system of raven locks and…. well… Fire. Various other places in her hair were dotted with smoldering embers, and she looked like she would be ready to burst into flame at any moment.

Not two seconds after I thought this, a smile unlike anything I had ever seen emerged onto her face, followed by her form being consumed by an explosive column of inferno. Elodie was lost from view for a second or two, with everyone on the edge of their seats. When the heat died down, Elodie was there, but her cloak was not. In its place was an elaborate formal robe, colored various shades of red, orange, and black, while singed in some places and smoldering in others. She looked like a demonic fire priest from an MMO, in all honesty, and it was extremely cool to witness.

What I failed to notice, in all of my awe-struck observations, was that her robe stopped short at her thighs, leaving a large gap over her legs. Right about where her knees would begin, her legs... changed. They gained a small amount of scaling, and eventually forking into three talons where her feet would have been. I had also failed to notice the feathers covering her forearms where her robes did not extend. It left me reaching back to my conversation with Ozpin about her sister, and her origins. She truly was…

"A Phoenix Faunus. She's beautiful."

"Yes. Now you see her true form."

It was as true as it could be. She was seething with flame, and kissed with attributes from her Avian side, it was all there. Hell, she even shared her sister's love of burning shit to the ground. Now, we had the privilege of seeing her fight someone like Coco.

After the momentum of the transformation was over, she calmly lowered her right hand to her side, and drew her sword from its scabbard. What she pulled out was an Ebony Nodachi, almost as tall as she was, that she drew into both hands. She assumed a balanced stance, sword raised in the air, waiting for Coco to continue, it seemed.

"Heh, C'mon little birdie, let's see how well you fly…"

Coco began to fire again, this time with more purpose and force, but soon after she began, she stopped, as there was simply no one else there to shoot at. Elodie had disappeared. No, not disappeared, but she simply moved too fast for Coco to recognize. Elodie was positioned directly behind her, and was ready to swing her sword down onto her head. Her swing was slow, however, and gave Coco the time she needed to turn around and dodge just before the blade was about to hit home. It hit the ground hard, with all of us able to feel the thud from where we were sitting. Then, the fight began in earnest. In between the flurries of firestorms and hails of bullets, the arena began to look like a volcanic epicenter. Coco was not skilled in melee combat, so she often attempted to fall back to an acceptable shooting distance, but Elodie never gave her much of a chance before she dashed to her and closed the distance. Eventually, the constant running away made Coco weary, and Elodie managed to get in a good hit, albeit in her arm, but it still docked her Aura considerably. Elodie was jarred from a previous bullet shot, but her levels remained stable. The fight could have gone on forever, but the arena style matches had a time limit of fifteen minutes.

"The match has concluded, fighters, return to your corners for evaluations."

Neither one really wanted to stop, but they begrudgingly called it quits and ceased fire. Soon after the fighting stopped, Elodie reverted her robes to their earlier form after being engulfed in a flash of pure light. When she returned to normal, she nearly collapsed before she managed to make it back to her corner.

"Now, this fight had no official winner, but we could easily tell who was in control of the battle. Miss Fall was able to take advantage of her opponent's lack of melee skills and press her in a way she could not retaliate from. However, Miss Adell was able to last so long because of Miss Fall's slow swing speeds. So, in culmination, Miss Adell, you would do well to seek the aid of another in learning CQC, while Miss Fall, you desperately need strength training. You both may return to your seats. "

Coco went up to Elodie before they left and offered some kind of handshake. Elodie stayed motionless for a moment, even a little bit confused, but in turn offered an honorable bow to her opponent.

She wordlessly returned to her seat near the back, never stopping to talk with anyone, serene and calm.

"That was... A mixture between the most dramatic and most awkward fight I have seen yet. "

Weiss finally managed to pull out of the trance everyone had been in during the answer me.

"She fights like no other, but her strength is horrid, and as far as I am aware her grades are pitiful. She may fight, but she has a long way to go before she can be majestic. "

"No, majestic is the wrong word. She's already majestic, whether or not she is skilled is what she will determine here. "

"Next Match: Rika Clarence and Jaune Arc, please report to the Arena immediately. "

"Well, thats my cue, wish me luck, ladies."

"You'll be fine, I know it. Deep breaths, control your body before it controls you."

"Ruby's right, you can take Jaune, don't worry about it." Yang chimed.

"Thanks Yang, I appreciate it. Well, better not keep them waiting. "

I stood from my seat and leaped into the aisle. On the way to the Arena, I took a mental inventory of my gear.

"Arcturus... Check

Speed Reloaders... Check

Gloves... Check

Fedora... No, but I really don't care about it anymore. It was cool for a while, but now it looks ridiculous.

Okay, all set, lets do this."

I was as prepared as I could be. I walked through the median to the arena, where Jaune was already warming up. I had been warming up internally, but now I realized I had to stretch before I began.

My heart was beginning to race, and I soon found my hands shaking in time.

"Come on... Come on... Deep breaths... Oh no not good. "

Despite my meticulous efforts to avoid it, my unstable Aura was showing itself once again. While not as extreme as it could have been, it was still blatantly visible, as small coils and tendrils of pure black were radiating off of my body. I had to work fast, or else I would set myself off.

"Professor, please begin the match."

Goodwitch looked at me oddly from her pedestal above the arena, but nodded nonetheless.

" Combatants... Begin! "

I wasted no time in drawing Arcturus from my back. I made sure to keep it in ranged form first, allowing me the opportunity to size up his defense.

Jaune had instantly turtled against me, hiding his form behind the massive kite shield, but not fully. I aimed carefully, and fired off two shots, one at the corner of his knee that was poking out, the other at his elbow in a similar fashion.

Only the shot to his elbow struck, but it was enough. His guard was broken, as the pure force from the bullet caused his shield to fly out of his reach. I was pretty sure I heard a bone or two crack as well. Regardless, I converted to my melee form and charged towards him, firing an extra shot at him mid stride, but missing due to the unsteady aim. When I was close enough to get at him, I wound up the blade behind me, aiming it for his legs. If I could knock him down, I could force him to yield, and end the fight swiftly. When I swung, however, Jaune had ducked down, completely dodging the strike. Not allowing him the chance to go on the offensive, I inverted the blades path at the end of the arc and fired another shot, causing Arcturus to rocket back towards Jaune, this time for his head. Jaune attempted to bring his blade up to block the incoming slice, but he could not muster enough strength with his broken bone, and the strike hit him squarely in the face.

His form flew back in a ragdoll fashion, finally landing near his shield.

"Good God, this kid can really take a hit. "

Accidentally I thought out loud, but the Audience did not notice. A tense silence was in the air, and I paused to see if Jaune was still going to fight. When he did not move, I walked over to him, reverting to the ranged form, and reloading Arcturus. I stood over Jaune, my sight trained on his cranium. My shoulders and arms ached vastly, between the weight of the weapon resting on my muscles and the sheer kick from the gun taking its toll on my body, but I ignored my body's cries and continued onwards.

He finally looked up at me, through a deep gash in his mug, which was bleeding intensely. He did not wear an expression of hate or anger, but more one of depression.

I had to end it somehow, so I asked him outright. "Will you fight on, or will you yield, Jaune?"

He looked up again, with a look I couldn't quite place. It looked somewhere between Joy and Expectation this time, but felt more rooted in surprise.

"I... I 'll fight. "

With a smile, I offered my hand to him. "Come now, get up you big lug, and get your shield. We're going to turn this match into a strength training exercise. "

"Uh, I don't think they will let you do that."

"Of course they will, I'm a Professor, and its my job to teach you something, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so. 'Kay, lets do this then."

He took my hand and rose to my level. It was odd, I was still the same height from when I was on Earth, but Jaune was a good three inches shorter than me. Boys on Remnant really were short. I about faced and sprinted back to my starting position, turning again to face Jaune. He assumed a position similar to before, but much less rigid. This time, instead of aiming my shots, I hip fired them with abandon, hoping to hit somewhere on his shield. The impact force would be great enough to push him back, and truly test his muscles. If he failed to hold against the impact, I would swiftly end the match.

I sprayed whatever I had in my chamber at him, sending all six of my rounds into his shield, dead in the center of it. Jaune soon found himself forced back against the wall he had just come from. I kept the pressure on him, reloading and doing the same motions over again, walking a little bit closer to him, and doing the same. I fumbled slightly with the ammunition, but I held together my vizier of experience long enough for no one to notice my time he simply held the shield in midair, waiting for the bullets to hit. The shield flew back into his face from the impact, striking him on the forehead, and knocking him out cleanly. A buzzer sounded and the match was called.

I jogged over to him to see if he was going to be all right. When I examined him, he seemed stable. The gash on his face was already sealing up, even slowly, and he was beginning to regain consciousness. His Aura would have to have been great for his healing factor to be so effective.

"Match End. Victor; Rika Clarence. Miss Clarence, in the future I would advise against using your ammunition so willingly, as it appears you only have a small amount. Also, your swordsmanship with your weapon could use work, your strikes were sloppy and wasteful of your energy. As for your… Other issue, see me after this period, I have a solution for that problem. Mister Arc, as usual your lack of offensive tactics resulted in your defeat, and even your defenses were thwarted by high caliber weaponry. You must either change your combat style or improve your current one if you wish to survive here. Combatants dismissed, next set to the Arena."

I went back into the crowd feeling somewhat proud of myself, but at the same time a little bit douchey, seeing as I purposefully humiliated Jaune in front of everyone… again… But I really wasn't given much choice.

I jogged back to my team in the stands, and upon my arrival I was tackled by a mixed blur of Red and Yellow.

"I knew you could do it! You even used my momentum trick oh Im so proud of you Rika!"

"Ow ow ow, Ruby you're crushing my liver... You also messed up my hair even worse than I did."

"Oh, sorry. Anyways, were all so proud of you, you did great!"

" Yes, you managed to crush the giant yellow fly that has been bugging me, I must commend you on that, at the very least."

I was blushing at all the praise I was absorbing from my team, and beaming internally over the fact that I still won, even if it was Jaune. Three semesters of training with Phyrra would have amounted to more, I would have thought, but little more than a few attempts at shield bashing shone through.

" The match has ended, the Victor: Blake Belladonna."

"Wait a minute, how long have they been fighting, I just got back!? "

Yang looked at her scroll, "About thirty seconds. Leave it to Blake, she can end a fight pretty quickly."

I opened my own scroll to see the stats, and much to my disbelief, it was all there. Blake was fighting against a guy from Cardin's team, someone named Sky, and apparently he got cut down brutally by Blake in a matter of seconds. Although, I didn't blame him, Blake had a way of taking solo matches to the next level that awed everyone else, so I was told, and used her shadowy fighting style to her fullest extent during such matches.

"Well...Good for her, I guess? I mean, it must be something to be able to take people out so quickly right?"

Yang nodded, "Sure, she's among the best duelists, next to Princess and Phyrra, but she takes it much more seriously than the other two, surprisingly. I think she likes to believe that you can only show your true abilities in a one on one fight, else it gets soiled by other combatants.

"Makes everything go a little smoother, too. One less fight to spend twenty minutes on, and now we can get on to the rest."

* * *

I sat with everyone while the rest of the matches unfolding, myself trying to take note of any kind of nuances and styles that could be beneficial to my own. I spent the majority of the period watching my scroll feed as opposed to the actual arena, as I could slow down the fights and watch maneuvers in slow motion, dissecting the movements and fine aspects of their motions. After another hour of watching and waiting, Goodwitch called the arena matches to an end, and sent us on our way. I separated from the crowd and jogged over to Goodwitch's podium above the arena, eager to see what she had in store for me.

"Ah, Miss Clarence, I'm glad you remembered to come up here. Forgive my condescension, but the Headmaster tells me you are not the most… 'together' person these days."

"Well, honestly I don't blame him for assuming that, it's only natural for someone in my position to be a wreck, I don't account it towards my own personal regularities. Anyways, what did you want to tell me about?"

Her look hardened even more, and her voice dropped into a serious growl, if even it could be called that. " I saw for myself today why the Council sees you as a threat to Civilization, and I stand with them on their verdicts regarding your Biological Radiance. However, that does not mean I am willing to simply throw away a student that could have been taught valuable skills in the name of preserving said Civilization. Your bouts of emotion or anxiety cause your Aura to become drastically unstable and become a possible Radioactive production center for other Biohazards. I want to teach you to control these outbursts not only through your own psyche, but through mastery of your Aura. The power you possess is more raw and unstable than any other present on this planet, but it is indeed controllable. Should you gain absolute control over your power… You could become a force unlike anything I have ever seen. But, if you continue on like this, undisciplined, a single traumatic event would be enough to send you over the edge and initiate a meltdown. As such, I have assigned for you an Aura mentor."

"Aura mentor? What exactly would that kind of job entail?"

"They would go above and beyond an ordinary counselor, such as what we currently offer. Instead of simply teaching you to reinforce your Aura and enhance your abilities with it, an Aura mentor would teach you absolute mastery of your Aura, which stems from personal self control and spiritual appeasement. Your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual state are all variables your Aura reflects, and it can be assumed right now they are all in disarray for you. I have chosen someone who is in personal balance, and has control over their Aura down to the molecule, to be your mentor. She should be up here any moment now-"

"Forgive me, Professor, I was attempting to search for my missing teammate, as she appears to have gone missing after the Arena eve-"

Weiss had ascended the stairs directly behind me, and stopped dead in her tracks, standing there looking both furious and confused.

"Rika…. What are you doing here? We all thought you went missing, you wandered off without so much as a single sound… And Professor Goodwitch, I thought you wanted to talk to me in private… WHY IS SHE HERE TOO?!"

"Ah, yes, Miss Schnee, perfect timing, I called you up here to introduce you to your new transfer student that you will be mentoring in Aura manipulation. I assume you are already acquainted, yes? I will leave the minor details to written reports, for now, have fun you two."

With that simple remark, she strutted off, leaving Weiss and I standing there dumbstruck.

My thoughts began to race again. She said Weiss… would be a… MY…. Teacher?

We both spewed out the first words that came to our mind in Unison.

"Oh fuck me twice on Tuesday, not this shit again."

* * *

_**My, my, everything is beginning to unfold so perfectly. By the way, I hope you haven't forgotten about Rika's little "Date" with Velvet... It will be quite entertaining indeed. As for Miss Fall and her sister, their time in the spotlight is far from over. Just wait, my comrades, in due time you shall witness the constructs of my imagination. After all... The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma (I couldn't resist ;) )**_

_**Cheers mates**_


	12. Chapter 11

The weekend could not have come sooner. The week's workload finally finished, I was able to return to the dorm rooms the Friday after the matches feeling relieved and excited. Not only would I get to sleep for more than five hours that night, I could finally get in a Jazz lesson with Blake the next day. She had been bugging me all week about it, and I figured it would be a good chance to wipe another item off of my agenda. Weiss would surely have something for me to do over the weekend, so I was mentally preparing for her flurry of judgements that was bound to come in my direction.

Classes had ended for the day, and I sat lazily in the dorms on my bed, mindlessly watching the bare trees near the window sway, something I hadn't gotten to do in a long time. In the week I had been a student at Beacon, as well as the weeks beforehand, I had come to relish the moments where I could simply do nothing, with my days being so packed full of events and being constantly drilled in my allotted off time. Melancholically watching the world around me helped to ease my stresses, and put me in a more relaxed state.

Before long, my peace was interrupted by a strident alarm coming from my scroll. I absentmindedly fiddled around for it without looking over from my view and answered the call.

"Helloooo?"

"Rika, it's Coco. Your date is tonight at seven, time to go shopping for your outfit!"

"Whoa whoa there, isn't that a bit of a short notice for that? Besides, I have to get special permission to leave campus, I doubt you would be able to get clearance to take me out on such short notice!"

"Dont worry about that, I got Ozpin's go ahead before I called you, he says it's fine, now come one, I'm waiting outside your dorm, hurry up!"

After that she hung up, deserting me with the biggest confused look on my face, feeling slightly played.

"Son of a Bitch..."

I dialed up Ozpin's number to make sure Coco wasn't bullshitting me. His voice greeted mine in his usual, grotesquely calm manner

"Ozpin, Coco just tried to call me to make me go off campus, but she claims you gave her permission. Is that true?"

"Yes, quite true. You need a night out on the town, so I allowed it. Have fun!"

Then he hung up on me, not even sparing twenty seconds of his time to explain his decision.

"*sigh* This is never going to get any easier is it?"

I picked up my scroll and headed out of the dorm, eager to get this part of the day over with.

I walked down the hall to the stairs, descending to the bottom floor and out the door. Sure enough, Coco sat upon a nearby wall, staring in my direction with expectation laced in her posture.

"Ready for your first Coco-certified shopping spree, my mysterious wolf?"

"I guess... I've never really been the type to spend long shopping, especially for clothes, but I do suppose the occasion calls for it."

"Dont you fret a bit, after we're done here, you'll be the most fabulous little furball on campus, I guarantee it."

"Alright then. So where are we headed to first?"

"Dress shop, your date is in one of the Ice Queen's downtown steak parlors, real fancy place. You have to look the part of a cultured connoisseur of the arts, so we're going to dress you up to do the part. You don't have a problem wearing a dress, do you?"

"No, not really, It's the heels that I'm worried about. I've never worn heels before."

"Don't worry about heels, you're too tall to wear them anyways, a pair of nice ballet flats will be just fine. We wouldn't want your date to have to look up to you for half of the meal, would you?... Well, they will be doing it anyways, but we don't want to make them do it even more than they have to."

"Thanks. Now that we have all of that settled, how are we getting there? We can't exactly walk down into Vale from here, now can we?"

"Bullhead down to the Airport on the bottom of the cliff, then the train over to the central district. The shops are all pretty close together, so we won't have to do much walking once we get there. Enough talking, let's ride!"

In a heartbeat, she began sprinting towards the air docks, leaving me in the dust yet again. I had to coax my aura out of hibernation a little to catch up with her, but before I knew it I was back by her side in front of the Bullhead. Although Weiss was absolutely abhorred by my lack of Aura awareness, she was nonetheless impressed that I could already manipulate it in remedial ways such as augmentation of my running.

The flight into Vale was rather plain, save for it being my first ride on a VTOL warship in my life. The train ride into Vale was very picturesque, passing by all of the buildings and city centers until we stopped in downtown. About five minutes away from the train station was the Dress shop we were aiming for. It was an extremely fancy place, in every way a classy joint, making me feel a little bit uncomfortable around such high class clothing. No matter how uneasy I was, however, Coco didn't seem to notice; she was in her own element and nothing could bring her down.

"Okay, I'm going to get your measurements taken, then we are going to skim through a few designs I had sketched up based on your body type; you have an excellent figure, by the way."

The attendants were summoned from the counter, and set to work besieging my body with various lengths of measuring tape, all invading the expanses of my form. I was lost in a sea of movement and plastic lines, so I had no Idea what was going on.

After a while, things calmed down and I was guided to a chair nearby. Coco took a seat next to me, and grabbed hold of a button of some kind.

"Alright, your profile has been uploaded to the shop's database, so they were able to construct a full scale model of each dress fitted on you, so you will be seeing exactly what each design will look like on you. Ready?"

"That is simply amazing, and yes, I am."

A hologram of myself appeared before us as Coco initiated the program. The attention to detail on the model was stunning, it matched every feature from the hues of my eyes to the small scars on my fingers, my eye as well.

"Okay, number one, the classic."

Suddenly my hologram was draped in a velvety red gown, the fabric reaching to my heels. The dress was fairly simple, with nothing out of the ordinary but a halter cut across my right shoulder, leaving my left exposed.

"Your thoughts?"

"It's pretty, but a little bit too plain. I don't want to be showy, but something with a subtle flair to it would be nice."

"Say no more, I have the perfect sketch in mind. Behold!"

The next dress was dyed a bright silver, composed of classic silk. It complimented my figure nicely, but left a little bit to imagination as well. My shoulders were covered with a broad strap on each side, which flowed down to my chest and stopped just above my cleavage. This left my upper chest bare to expose a simple crescent pendant.

Towards my waist, a small leather belt sat lopsided on my hips. Lower than that, was a curious design for the gown's flow. Beginning on my left side, at the bottom corner, there was a gradual curve the fabric followed, arcing all the way to my mid thigh, where it leveled out to look more like a skirt. Essentially, it left my right leg uncovered, while my left was hidden behind the the middle was a curved slant, like a crescent cut in the flow. It featured a small flap on the back for my tail as well. I loved it.

"Search over, that's the dress I want to wear. Where to next? "

"Whaaaa?! We've only just gotten here, and there are still five more designs to look at! "

"Well, thats a damn shame because Ive fallen in love with this one, and all others are irrelevant. As a matter of fact, I want to try it on, if it is ready?"

Coco looked just a little bit pissed at me for dashing her flow, but caved in to my desired nonetheless. The attendants again swarmed me, nudging me towards a dressing room, where I waited patiently for them to finish my dress. I waited for about twenty minutes until the attendant returned with the completed dress, exactly as I remembered.

"Alright, try it on and see if it fits nicely."

I went into the dressing room, and began to remove my outfit. Not wanting to remain in my underwear for long, I hastily opened the dress bag and proceeded to step into the gown. The materials glided smoothly against my skin as I pulled it up to my chest, moving the straps over my shoulders. I was hyper-flexible, so I was able to zip it myself, without much issue. Looking in the mirror, the thing fit much better than I imagined. The materials hugged my body lightly, not tightly but enough to make me feel a little bit proud of my new body. I was able to move well enough in the outfit, despite the slight droop in the dress on my left side.

I walked out for Coco to inspect, stepping onto the stool near her, allowing her a full view of myself.

"I like it, but what do you think Coco?"

"I think…. I think we hit the jackpot. You're as ready for a date in that dress as you ever will be. All we need to do now is pick up your accessories from the shops nearby. I'll have the attendants prep the dress for shipping up to Beacon, while we pick up the rest of the stuff. C'mon, we only have three more hours until it's time to go, we gotta hustle!"

I went back into the changing room to strip out of the dress, and quickly laid it out on the bench next to me once I was back in my more modest outfit. I found Coco at the front counter, handing a card to the cashier, likely paying for the dress. That also raised a reasonable question…

"Hey Coco, this is nice and all, but just how exactly are we paying for all of these things we are buying?"

"No worries kid, my family owns half of the fashion brands in the world, and subsidizes the other half. As a matter of fact, the dress you bought was made from an Adell licensed seamstress. Even the Ice Queen can't match what I can pump out, so don't worry about money, this is all my treat!"

"Thanks…. I guess? Anyways, where are we headed to next?"

Coco turned to look at me, and even pulled her sunglasses down a little to get an eye to eye view of me.

"The best shop in town; the Lingerie boutique. You can't go on a date without being prepared, am I right?"

"...Oh balls."

* * *

The remainder of the shopping spree was, to my sheer joy, painless and quick, even the lingerie boutique portion. Within five minutes I was uncomfortable enough to hide behind one of the bra mannequins. I ended up settling for a pair of white lace panties and matching bra, all the while having Coco mutter about my cup size under her breath, even though we looked to be the same size. All I could say about women's underwear, however, was that they went through a LOT to make men happy, the things barely fit on me and I felt like I was standing nude in the middle of the shop while I tried them on. I looked drop dead sexy, to be sure, but I felt more vulnerable than when I was sitting in the hospital bed. Other than that, a crescent pendant was my accessory of choice.

On the way back from the city, Coco tried to convince me to let her do my hair, but I decided to simply do it myself. I had learned that much from my sisters by helping them with their own, and could work on my style well enough. In my day to day style, there was little to no effort given, but when I put my effort into it, I could create a masterpiece. It would be the first time I would be trying so hard for my own hair, however, and that would be fairly interesting.

When I bid Coco farewell, and received the destination for my date from her, I headed back to my dorm to prepare for the evening. Upon entering my room, I immediately began scavenging for hair supplies. I went into the bathroom, ignoring Weiss' rant about my absence during the day, grabbing what I needed and slamming the door in her face. Luckily for me, the door was dust-proof, so nothing she threw at it would knock it down. Having found peace for me to work, I set about constructing my hair into what I felt was the perfect match for the dress.

I pulled a good portion of my hair back into a ponytail, using one of Blake's spare bows to tie it off the same way she hid her ears. Next, I took the remaining bangs and began to brush them over my left eye. When they laid exactly the way i wanted them to, I paralyzed them with hairspray. For the remaining hair strands, I simply brushed them straight down, leaving them in a thin strand on my right. I looked over the results in the mirror, quite pleased. My canine ears sat alertly above my hair, blending with the pulled back style. It gave me a sense of mystery while exhibiting my facial features as well. Next, I brushed my tail softly, smoothing out the kinks in the fur and giving it a nice gloss.

Finished with my hair, I began to rummage through my bags, searching for the items which I was most anxious about. When I discovered the floral pink bag sitting beneath all of the others, I found my prey; the lingerie set. I stripped out of my garb, leaving everything in a pile next to the sink, leaving me completely exposed in front of the mirror, myself staring at my semi-nude form.

"Huh, the last time I did this, I was still in the hospital. Somehow, it all feels more… settled now. These don't feel so foreign anymore."

While I spoke, I grabbed my recently added feminine globes with both hands, pulling them up in my plain brown bra (creepily enough, lent to me my Yang). When I released, they sprang back into their positions, and looked normal again.

"Ugh, what am I doing, standing here groping myself like this? There's work to be done!"

I unhooked my bra, freeing my breasts from the fabric, leaving them exposed a I pulled down my panties. Then I looked over to the bag once again, containing the things which I desperately didn't want to buy but was forced to by Coco.

"Well, gotta be prepared on a date, right? Oh…. God this is going to be so bad."

I reached into the bag and pulled out the skimpy white lace thong that was within. The thing was uncomfortable and _waaaaayyy_ too revealing for my tastes, but Coco insisted it would work well with my style. I could only pray that it wouldn't be seen through my dress. I pulled the barely-underwear onto my body, and let it sit where it felt most comfortable. Next, I worked to put the bra on. I held up the thing, it too a lacy white piece of fabric. It was pushup, obviously, meaning my boobs would be be pretty much a size bigger to the naked eye. I snapped the thing on, and instantly felt my chest rise up. My breathing felt normal, but it was a bit uncomfortable. After my stockings were on my legs, I looked around for my dress.

"God damnit I really hate women's fashion choices. Now I remember why I was okay with being a man."

I bought the dress out from the carrier bag, and slipped into it the same as I had before. This time, however, the was a slight amount of cleavage seen as a result of my bra. I put on the crescent pendant I had picked out, leaving it hang just above my chest. In terms of makeup, there was little I could on my own, and not much I really wanted or needed, so I decided to simply put on a mellow red lipstick and leave it at that. I put on my simple black ballet flats, and made sure everything was settled before I left. My hair was composed neatly, my dress prim and proper, my jewelry sparkling, and although they were uncomfortable, my underwear served its purpose; making me look sexy, and it did that very well. I was about to walk out when the final thought hit me; my teeth! Just because I had a new set of canines didn't mean they would stay any more clean and fresh then my other ones.

"Oh shit, I can't go out with bad breath, gotta brush my teeth quick!"

I brushed as quickly as I could, and then made a beeline for the door, leaving behind my mess, as it was already six and I would need to meet Coco at the dock soon if I was not going to be late.

I burst from the bathroom, nearly knocking over Weiss and Blake, who were immediately on the other side of the door.

"Rika, you came in here like a bat out of Hell and made a break for the bathroom, now, and hour later, you come out dressed like you're going to a gala, and looking just as anxious, tell us what in the good name of Oum you are doing!?"

"Yes, we are pretty worried Rika, and we're really confused as well."

I had to move and talk, gathering my things to put into my small purse for the evening.

"Long story short, Coco got me dressed up for my first date, and I'm leaving right now to go into Vale for said date. I was out all day buying this dress, among other things, so please don't get mad at me for being away from training and whatnot she dropped this on me very suddenly and now I'm rushing because I spent too much time in the bra shop because I was really embarrassed of being fitted and I have to go like _NOW _so see you sometime tonight okay love you all bye!"

I wasn't quite sure if I left them with any more understanding than I began with, but it would have to do. If they really wanted to ask me more questions, they would call me on my scroll on the way into the city. As I closed the door, I spun around to see Jaune leaving his room as well. What was odd was his apparel. He was dressed up in a tuxedo, hair combed back, in a fashion like mine, and refused to even look my direction.

"Oh, Jaune, hello. Are you going out tonight too?"

He spun around, as if scared by my question before responding.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm going out with someone tonight, actually, and, well, I'm a little bit nervous. Really nervous, in fact, and I'm freaking out a little bit right now because I've never really done something like this with anyone before."

Heh, so Jauney boy finally made a move on old Phyrra, eh? Bout fucking time, they should have been dating since last semester, given their natural chemistry.

"Ah, I see. Well, here's my advice, do your best to stay in control of your fear, and don't let on that you're controlling your fear. Do that, and she won't think you're a weakling or some fool who can't handle a simple date. Shit, I gotta go, good luck with your thing Jaune, I hope she's pretty at least!"

With those mustering words, I broke into a sprint for the elevator, managing running rather well with my flats and outfit given. I managed to reach the airdock in a good time, as I found Coco just arriving as I did. Oddly enough, Jaune was on his way into the city as well, likely for his own date. It wasn't until we boarded the Bullhead, however, that I noticed Velvet clinging to Coco's side. The two of them were both in gowns, with each to their own styles; Coco led the glamorous sect, while Velvet wore something more demure and subdued, but in no way any less striking. I wasn't quite sure what it was that I would talk to her about, but I was pretty excited nonetheless. A girl wanted to go out on a date with me, simply for my looks, without even getting to know me at all, it was one of the most honoring things I had ever experienced. I sat down next to Coco as the Bullhead took off, hoping to maybe pry some conversation topics out of her before we split up.

"So, Coco, where exactly is this place I'm headed to again?"

"Two doors down from the dress boutique from earlier, trust me, you'll know it when you see it; a Schnee place is never very discreet."

I accepted her answer with a slight nod, then found myself at a loss for words. I knew there was more for me to ask her, but I simply couldn't find anything to say to her in that time, at least not with Velvet sitting within earshot. She could probably hear a lot better than I could, being a rabbit Faunus, and I wasn't going to take any chances with this. Jaune's cologne was especially fragrant, leaving me with a swirling headache, silently cursing my senses for being so acute.

So, I sat in anxious silence while the Bullhead danced through the night, eventually depositing us at the train station that ran into Vale. Why it simply couldn't drop us in Vale was beyond me, but I was certain of one thing; it left me with another half of an hour to sit and be anxious about the coming evening. In the train, I opted to sit alone, mostly so I could ensure that my attire was in order, and also to call up the team and ensure they were adequately informed as to my whereabouts. Needless to say, they were less than satisfied with my departure, but surprisingly Weiss was the one who defended me when it came to my haste, likely a business thing. Only someone who practically has to be everywhere all the time could understand being rushed like that.

"Well… Okay, I guess we understand a little bit better now, but that doesn't excuse you from missing your Aura training this afternoon. Expect a make-up session when you come back… After you tell us about this date, of course. We have to make sure you aren't dating some kind of trailer trash, and I refuse to be in the same vicinity as someone like that!"

"Yes, _mother,_ I'll be sure to tell you all about it when I see you again. Anyways, we're going to your steak bistro in Vale, so you could always just bribe your waiter or something if you wanted to get details on it. It's just me, I'm not the most interesting person."

Yang scoffed at my apparent lack of self interest. "You're the only one in this universe who seems to think that, Rika. Well, anyways, we're glad you called us, and good luck on your date. Pro tip; get a bit… _creative_ with your hands if you end up going home with them, they'll fall for you for sure."

She emitted her usual lopsided grin before being slapped upside the head by Ruby, instantly discounting her words, reminding me that Ozpin probably wouldn't want me staying in the city overnight, for the sake of my safety.

"That's true, I really can't afford to do much rule-bending in my current position, so I'll have to be careful. When does the last train to the port come in?"

"Around Midnight. Your date shouldn't take that long, so you will make it in time. Don't worry about the Bullhead, it runs 24/7, so it will always wait for you to return."

"Got it." The intercom announced our arrival at the Vale downtown station, our stop.

"Okay girls, gotta go, wish me luck!"

I disconnected the call, stuffing my scroll back into my bag, and jogging into the other car to rejoin the others, thankfully free of my headache from Jaune's incessant cologne. The four of us walked out into the streets, myself glad the night was especially warm for a winter's evening, since I had forgotten to buy an overcoat to go with my dress, leaving me with nothing but my tail for warmth.

The sun had already set, coating the cityscape in a palette of darkness. We weren't far from the restaurant, so I didn't have far to walk. Coco nudged me while I looked around, likely wanting to speak a little before she set off for whatever she had planned during the evening.

"Okay, I'm off to a movie with Velvet, if you need anything you have our scroll addresses, and if an absolute emergency rolls around, don't forget you can summon your weapon set with your scroll. Be careful though, police in Vale don't exactly take too kindly to seeing a kid wandering around with military-grade weaponry, let alone someone like you or Velvet, so be careful."

"Wait a minute, you're going to a movie… with _Velvet?_ Sorry, but who the fuck am I going to dinner with then?! I thought you said your roommate wanted to have dinner with me, and unless I'm mistaken, you called her a SHE!"

Coco paused, unshaken by my confusion, simply gazing up like she had forgotten to mention something minor to me, hardly something to be worried about. Then, after a few seconds, her cheeks were on fire, likely realizing her error.

"Oooooohhh…. right. Um, yeah, funny thing about this, I, uh… Kind of set you up with a friend of mine, who wanted to meet you but was too scared to ask…. But no, not Velvet. Velvet is… Well, put bluntly she's Yatsuashi's girlfriend, but she likes to go and see the other side of town once in awhile, if you catch my drift?"

"I don't want to hear anything else about it, quite honestly, that business is hers to divulge, and I don't need to hear it . WHat I do need to hear, however, is who the fuck you set me up with."

"Meh, I wouldn't fret over it too much, he doesn't bite, really, he just can't voice his desires very well, and I owed him one for helping me get through last semester's Grimm Anatomy Exam, so I did him a favor. However, the circumstances of this date should not keep you from enjoying the night, so just forget about it, yeah?"

"Ugh, I swear to fucking God, Coco, I'll rip your leg off and chew on the bone for this… But I guess there is nothing to do about it now, it would be wrong of me to stand the poor guy up, and would be an even worse waste of a dress. Know this though; now you owe _me _a favor, claro?

"What?"

"I-I mean, clear?"

"Fine, I guess so. Figures, I can't stay out of debt for more than a week. Well, anyways, we better go, have fun Rika, as much as you can, anyways."

"Right, laters."

WIth that, she and Velvet wandered off into the city night, leaving me quietly damning my gullibility and trying to figure out how to proceed. Right now all I could do was go to the restaurant and wait for my date to show up. Reserving myself to that much, I made way for the fancy eatery down the road, completely ignoring the residual stench of that musky, headache-inducing cologne…

* * *

I finally made it to the steak shop, after about five men tried to pick me up like some kind of hooker out on the town looking for work. I quickly bitch slapped one of them and went on my way, making my intentions rather clear in my wake. When I entered, I immediately took in the mouth-watering aroma of cooking meat fusing with savory spices and various plants to form a presumably expensive meal. I stood in the doorway, experiencing the atmosphere of the low roofed, dimply lit room, and all of the artifacts laced to the walls for decoration. The floors were composed of a soft tile, the walls a smoothed wood and glass finish. The tables were heavy stone, lined with worn wooden carvings. The entire place looked like some kind of ancient roasting pit, but I could not care any less for the ambience, I was here for the food, and that was what truly mattered.

I waited behind two couples, eagerly awaiting my turn to be seated, hoping my date was already here before me. I hated being the first one to any kind of event, it often caused me to think I was somehow mistaken with the location or time of something, and simply played to my more paranoid side.

"Next, please."

I moved up to the host podium, greeting the well-groomed man at the desk. He did not look up, but simply moved his hands on a keyboard. Running a place like this couldn't be easy, so I couldn't blame his ambivalence to my presence.

"Do you have a reservation?"

"Should be listed under Clarence, I believe."

For the first time he looked up at me upon mentioning my name. His eyes were a deep shade of hazel, slightly piercing and bespectacled. His hair was neatly combed to one side, and his outfit a simple, lanky tuxedo.

"Well, what do we have here, a little doggy that wandered in to get some meat, eh? Sorry, lass, we don't give handouts to mongrels, Next customer please."

His heavily accented voice simply added to my annoyance with him, making it seems like some little Scottish shit was trying to kick me out.

"Hey, I'm not some kind of scum, and I'm not looking for handouts either, I'm here to get some damn steak, pay for it and then leave. You have a problem with that th- No, please back up, I'm not finished yet."

The next couple tried to come up from behind me, but I quickly sent them back. There was no way some prejudiced prick was kicking me out, not after I had spent the last ten minutes getting hyped for this food.

"Why yes, as a matter of fact, I do. We reserve the right to deny service to any and all customers, and sorry to say, you fall under that bracket, girl, now do yourself a favor and don't make this any more difficult than it has to be. Not like you could afford this food anyways."

"Wanna try me, fuckhead?"

I whipped out a fistful of Lien notes, about twenty or so 100 bills, and slammed them down in front of him.

"My, oh my, what will the sheriff say when he sees all of this money that you stole from the ATM up the street? Don't we have ourselves a little thief here, lads?"

I wasn't taking any more of this guys's shit. I grabbed him from the collar and pulled him up from behind the counter. A few guests backed up form me, with some of the staff moving forward to attempt to restrain me. However, I was much stronger than they, easily shaking them off and retaining my hold on the host.

"Okay, look here Jerkoff. I, like yourself, happen to be slightly acquainted with business. What we have here is a simple transaction; I give you money, however much you ask, and you give me a service or product in exchange. You profit in the end, and I get a nice meal. However, you happen to be denying yourself and this company any chance of making said profit because of your _absolutely vile _perception that I can't enjoy such a nice place for my first date simply because of these here ears and my _long, fluffy, glossy tail. _"

I made sure to brush my tail along his back to emphasize my point even more. I was in the middle of a good rant, and nothing was stopping me. I could feel myself getting worked up during my rant, but I could care less. One less racist asshat in the world as a result my meltdown sounded quite worth it.

"Now, I know for certain that Weiss Schnee, whom I happen to have on _motherfucking speed dial on this scroll_ would just be appalled at your lack of common sense. I mean, after all, what good employee would turn down someone's money? It's just bad business, dear."

"Hah! You don't scare me, little dog, you wouldn't be anywhere near the master's daughter, you'd already be dead, so don't come in here and try to solicit the mistress' name like you are her best friend! And if you think your little Aura magic will scare me into letting you eat here, you've got another thing comin, bitch! "

I simply chuckled, admiring the black coils radiating from my arms. They accented my dress quite well, I thought, and to a simple passerby, I probably looked like a demon. Taking advantage of the silence in the room, I whipped out my scroll. I found Weiss' photo, and ever so lightly tapped its frame, initiating a video call to her.

She answered almost instantly, appearing before us in her nighttime regalia, hair down and all. She looked especially worried, and was sweating slightly.

"Rika, you called, that means something is wrong, what happ- WHY ARE YOU HOLDING THAT MAN IN A CHOKEHOLD?"

"Ah, Good to see you too, Weiss. I was just here, in your shop, when a mister- Oh, I'm sorry, I never quite got your name, Mister…"

Beneath the folds of his shirt, now pulled up tighter over his face, I heard what sounded like "Winfield" grumbled.

"Ah, yes, Mister Winfield here just got done telling me to go around back and forage for scraps, since, you know, I am a measly Faunus, and have no such place here, despite my name clearly listed on this reservation here. I'm sure you see the problem?"

Weiss' look hardened, and she instantly resumed her cold, icy lecturing tone from when we first met.

"Yes, I do. Mister Winfield, I am sure you remember the employee handbook, section III article forty-nine, clause three?" It was a recently added measure, so it should be rather fresh in your memory."

"Y-yeff miff. Neffer reyekt a ffeft, mo matter veir wook, pay, ow wemeanor. I wememba."

"Good, then I hope you understand that your actions have earned you immediate termination, with full revocation of your benefits and seizure of your company-granted assets. You have until tomorrow morning to remove your personal items from your workplace and living spaces, and beyond that will be added to the Schnee Corporation blacklist. I hope your moment of petty insolence was worth this, Mister Winfield. I shall be speaking to my Father regarding your pension immediately. Never mess with a Schnee's income. Good Night, you two. Enjoy your meal, Rika."

"Thank you, very much Weiss."

With that satisfying closure reached, I released the broken man in my grasp, letting him clamor to the floor, sitting there like a vegetable, doing or saying nothing. Everyone around stood there, silent and anxious, not daring to approach me or say anything, until someone towards the door began to clap. Everyone else soon followed suit, until i was surrounded by a crowd of cheerers, very sweaty and wanting my goddamn steak more than ever.

I turned back towards the desk, looking to the man next to the discarded host.

"I'll be taking my reservation now; under Clarence, if you would please."

I was quickly escorted by a young man to a booth towards a back window, looking out over the street I had arrived from. I was handed a menu, and was being poured a glass of Wine.

"Oh, dont worry about that, it won't be necessary. Bring bottle of Whiskey, 30 year, if you have it."

The server took the glasses away and brought back a broad bottle of pale yellow Whiskey, a Schnee 30 year reserve, and a small liquor glass.

"I'll have a water as well. Also, tell the desk to send over anyone else asking for the Clarence reservation, they are with me. Thank you."

I was finally left alone with my menu and my booze. After the evening I'd had so far, a drink was a necessity. Luckily, the Whiskey was smooth enough to drink fluidly, but hard enough to deter heavy drinking. They wouldn't dare deny me a drink now either, since I was fairly certain I had brought the entire staff under my control, between nearly decapitating an employee and having the Boss' daughter at my fingertips. While I pondered over the various steak options, I puzzled about what my date would look like. It was a man, that much I knew, and almost nothing else. Would he be a prick, or someone gentle? Smoothe, or clumsy? Blonde hair or brown? So many things to consider, and I still had no Idea what his name even was. I stared helplessly into the Whiskey bottle, watching things move, distorted by the liquid, munching on a roll that was brought. I fixed a few stray hairs, straightened my underwear, awkwardly, and ensured I looked alright after my scuffle. I looked at my reflection in the bottle for a while, inspecting my features, one by one, from my Gold eyes, to my ears, to my slightly freckled nose, and my chin, even.

Soon I was lost in a daydream, disregarding the odd stares I was being given my patrons near me for laying my head on the table, ears down and sad faced. My thoughts wandered from homework to the Wind Ensemble to Blake and even over Dad. I was bored out of my mind and in a slightly melancholic mood, never a good combo with alcohol anywhere nearby. I had never been drunk before, but was nonetheless curious to see what a full-blown shitfaced evening out on the town would be like. I debated it, but eventually shook the thought out of my head; I would need to be able to detect danger and fight back against it if something happened, and being drunk could get me killed.

As I was looking in the bottle, and moved it to pour another glass, feeling the warmth of the booze, a body stood behind the bottle. I looked up, expecting the waiter asking me to order yet again, as it had been almost twenty minutes. However, who was actually there surprised me to no end.

It wasn't Ozpin, trying to boost my confidence, or Blake, trying on her suit for the Vytal gala, or Ren, here because he never speaks to anyone and wants a change.

No, out of all the men in Beacon who I had looked at, this one was easily the most curious of people who could have been my date. He regarded me, embarrassingly resting my head on the table, staring wide-eyed at him. Then, his mouth opened, releasing his usual, high-toned laugh.

"U-uh… Hi there?"

To my complete shock and awe, Jaune Fucking Arc was standing in front of me, in the same tuxedo he left in, his hair combed the same way as it had been on the Bullhead. He even had the same vomit-inducing cologne on. It was none other than him.

Honestly, the universe was just being cruel now.

* * *

**_I told you. I told you it wasn't what it looked like. Now look where we are. Out on a really awkward date, with no way to get back, and a whole lot of booze to drink in the meantime. I wonder what Yang is doing tonight..._**


	13. Chapter 12

"Oh, uh... Jaune, what are you doing here?"

I tried to remain as indifferent to my shock as possible, doing my best to treat his presence as a pleasant surprise. Jaune seemed wordless, not willing to meet my gaze, content to stand there stationary, in front of my unbelieving stammer.

"Oookay, Jaune, before we do anything else, I want you to answer one question. Are you the person Coco set me up with?"

He began to fidget a little, a blush apparent upon his face. However, he continued to give me nothing but bashful silence.

"Jaune answer me or else I'm leaving this restaurant right now. _Are you my date or not?"_

I made sure to remain calm, but carefully enunciate my words, emphasizing them without sounding angry.

His fidgeting increased, and he looked visibly distressed, but yielded to my demands with a simple nod.

My question answered, I grabbed my bag from beside me and stood up. I strode past him, making way for the front door. His arm grabbed mine in the blink of an eye, faster than I would have thought him capable of, scaring me a little bit as I passed.

"Please... Don't leave me." His plea was barely a whisper, a tiny, desperate wind calling for help. I was barely able to hear it, meaning no one else, maybe not even himself, would have been able to hear it. I turned around to face him, and he met my eyes with the most forlorn and sorrowed looks I could ever recall.

It wasn't in my nature to completely torture someone like this, even if it was under such circumstances. It wasn't his fault that I didn't want to be here, got tricked into it. Well, it _was _his idea, but that's beside the point. It would be rude to just leave him here all alone.

And so, I removed my arm from his grasp, composed myself, and resumed my seat in the booth, draping my tail over my lap, pouring another glass of the Whiskey.

Jaune, not quite trusting my intentions yet, tentatively sat across from me in the booth, not sipping his water, or looking at the menu, but merely watching me with a worried expression. I returned it with a hard stare of my own, trying to communicate without words that although I was here, however unwillingly it was, I wouldn't be leaving him. However, given by his breakout of sweating, I think it produced the opposite effect.

"For fucks sake, Jaune, quit giving me that look, will you? I'm not going anywhere any time soon. "

"Yeah, but..."

"Yeah, but nothing. I'm here, and I'm hungry as hell, so I ain't leaving without some damn food. Order something, I'm starving, and I need to counter this whiskey, I've been here a while."

Jaune fumbled childishly with his menu, flipping pages, going back and forth, trying his best to understand all of the fancy food names and ingredients.

"What are you doing here anyways Jaune?"

"What?"

"I asked you, what are you doing here?"

"Well, unless I'm mistaken, we're on a date, aren't we?"

Jaune seemed to be recovering some of his blind bravado, but still looked rather queasy.

"Right, and what, pray tell, inspired you to ask Coco to fix a date with me rather than ask me yourself? We live literally ten feet away from each other, you realize that right?"

"Yes, I do. Until I saw you for the first time, I was infatuated with Weiss, and I had asked her out dozens of times, but it only ended with me getting frozen over every single time. It hurt, you know, to get rejected by someone you like over and over, so I swore to myself that it would be different this time. I would play it safe, and try to avoid getting heartbroken again. "

He looked normal again as he spoke, recovering that unique Jaune Arc confidence, that shine that made him who he was. While I was glad he wasn't being like a ten year old out on his first date anymore, his reasoning for doing this still annoyed me.

"So, instead of blindly asking out the new girl in town, you get someone who just met her, but has more confidence, to set you up for you? "

"W-Well... Yeah, I guess."

"Hmm, and what is it exactly that makes you like me over someone like, oh I don't know... Phyrra? "

"Well, you, I barely know anything about you, but when I look over at you, I feel like there's this person beneath the skin that no one knows, like your body doesn't fit your mind at all. Phyrra, she is my best friend at Beacon, and she's pretty, but I-"

"Bitch please, She practically wants to suck your dick every time you walk into the room! Have you actually talked to the chick, like, at all!? You two are together pretty much every second of every day, and she looks like the happiest person on the face of Remnant, but then you go and pull that 'Best Friend' bullshit. ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID MAN, SHE WANTS YOU, STOP BEING SO GODDAMN DENSE!"

Tables around us paused their meal to stare on my direction. I was shouting and flailing around much more than necessary, and had drawn the attention of a good deal of people. I was internally embarrassed for making a scene, but honestly this fool needed some sense knocked into him.

"Jaune, I'm going to stop you right there for two reasons and two reasons only. Number one; Phyrra is _**madly **_in love with you, and if you decided to go out with her, she would probably say yes before you even finished your sentence. Point being, longer you continue to ignore her obvious hints and gestures towards you, the less likely it is that you will actually get her."

"W-what about the other reason?"

I knew he was still not seeing my logic here. I needed to throw something at him that would finally shock him into realisation. It couldn't be just anything, it had to be something that would create such a barrier of uncertainty between us that he would lose any and all kind of romantic interest in me. Something like...

"Well, the fact that I used to be a man might justify it a little bit."

I shit you not, Jaune's jaw dropped onto the goddamn table. His hands flopped to his sides, and his eyes nearly went crossed. I shattered the poor boy's mind, it looked like, and it wasn't until the server came back to finally get our order that he returned to this plane of existence.

"Sir, what would you like to eat? Uh, sir?"

"He'll have the T-bone, cooked Medium, with a mixed salad, and I'll have the ten ounce Filet, Medium with the Bleu Cheese crust, thank you."

He jotted our meals and walked over to another table, asking for their orders nonchalantly, as if he wasn't at all weirded out by Jaune's demeanor. I looked back to Jaune, and he at least looked like a sane human being again, albeit still shaken and a bit clammy.

"Jaune, Bro, are you okay? You've been staring at the ice cubes in your water for the last ten minutes. You act like I just shattered your whole reali-"

"Are you sure you didn't just have too much Whiskey before I showed up, because I'm alright with having a drunk for a girlfriend, really, I am!"

"_**Excuse me?!"**_

"Oh, nononono, I didn't mean it like that, I'm just trying to put together a reason for why you're talking crazy like that, I mean, you _used to be a man, that's just plain insane, right? I mean, whowuldeventhinkthatsomethingsorediculouswouldevenbemedicallypossibleIknowIknowIdon'tbecauseIhaveasingleshredofcommonsenseand-"_

"Honey, shut up and let me talk. You'll lose less sleep tonight that way, ok?"

Just like that he went silent, pausing his insane rant and calmly looking to me to continue. He could follow instructions well enough, I hope he was at least as good at understanding something like this.

"Well, It began about two years ago, when I watched my Father die in my own home…"

* * *

It went on just like that, all through our meal. I talked on and on about every last minute, from start to finish, all the way up until that very evening. I spared him no details, didn't sugar coat anything, and presented everything in the most understanding manner I could. Our steaks came and went, Jaune's salad untouched, and the Whiskey flask slowly diminishing between the two of us. We easily spent an hour and a half in that restaurant simply sitting there and talking… Although it was mostly me talking and Jaune sitting in front of me absorbing everything like a sponge.

People around us circulated in and out, but we remained, savoring the ice cubes we chewed on, lost in the topic of discussion. It wasn't until about ten people were left in the place that we began to wind down the evening.

"And, there you have it… The ins and outs of Rika Clarence, from A to Z. Between Cosmic radiation, breaking the laws of physics, and ending up in a world I thought imaginary, turning out a girl is honestly just something that I can deal with pretty easily. Tell me now, do you still feel like trying to bark up my tree, or are you going to go after someone who is actually attempting to gain your good graces?"

"Alright, alright, I see your point in all of this. I realize by now that you _really_ don't want to go out with me, and I get that. Listening to the horrors you've put up with so far in your life have solidified that for me. the only thing is…. I'm not really sure where to go from here. You said Phyrra likes me, yeah, but, if that's really true, then how do I go about 'reeling her in' as you call it?"

"Now _THAT_, Jauney boy, is something I can help you with. Even though I'm not a man anymore, I can still lay down a good blanket of mojo with the ladies if I want to . Look no further, my friend, because you've found your Bro advice mentor!"

"Bro advice?"

"Yep, anything and everything you have to ask about women, I can answer. After all, making you listen to my sob story for two hours, you wouldn't think I'd leave you here empty handed, did you?"

"W-well… Maybe…"

"Hey, I'm a professor, and at the very least, a professor needs to be able to teach their students, so this is just an extension of my job description. Anyways, what's the time, we might need to leave soon."

Jaune looked to his wrist, citing the time to be almost ten. I summoned our faithful waiter and asked for the check. We gathered our things, left a hefty tip for the patient server, and began to walk towards the exit.

As we rose from our seats, I turned back to Jaune.

"Honestly, I have no idea why Weiss turned you down so many times. Coming from somebody with two sisters who always told me what they wanted from a man, you followed every single specification they ever told me about. You've got the goods, man, just gotta use them a little bit."

He blushed at my praise, but kept walking without acknowledging it with words. We abandoned the empty dishes and bottle on the table and began to leave. Just as we were about to pass the front desk, I heard someone from outside scream.

"_**There's the furry little bitch, go get her, lads!"**_

I looked out the front window, and what I saw was highly concerning. Ten heavily armed men, all toting machine guns of some kind, fronted by none other than the same man who I had fired no more than two hours ago, pointing at me with a devilish grin on his face. They were all in uniform, save Winfield, bearing gleaming gold badges on their chests that clearly read "Vale Police Squad" on them in bold letters. Winfield had just called the swat team on me for getting him fired. Well then…

"RUN!"

We barely had two seconds of leeway before a total shitstorm ensued. Juane and I made way for any way out, the closest one being the kitchen doors. Behind us, the firing squad opened fire, lighting up the room behind us, catching me with quite a few shots, but luckily not hitting anything detrimental. We sprinted into the kitchen, knocking over pots and pans everywhere, trying our hardest not to become another city headline. I could hear them charging into the store behind us, but I didn't care. If we could get out of the building we stood a chance.

"Rika, where the Hell is the exit!"

"I'm looking, fuck me where the Hell is it!"

"Over there, next to the mopping bucket, go for it!"

We made a beeline turn right, and began a mad dash for the door. I could hear the boots of the squadron behind us, probably no farther than ten feet behind us. I almost felt my heart burst as we drove through the double doors, collapsing into the dark back alley. We needed options, and we needed them right now.

I looked right, and saw a dead end. No way to ascend the wall, and not a good rally point. To my left, a short alley, and the busy street next to it. It seemed our only option, at that point.

"Down the alley, make for the street then turn right. Coco and Velvet are in a movie theatre somewhere that direction. We have to find them, go!"

"Don't have to tell me twice, I'm all for not getting shot down by the local law enforcement if I can!"

We picked up into a mad sprint again, keen on shaking out pursuers. As we reached the corner's edge, they burst through the back door, screaming bloody murder.

"Over there, shoot the Pig Fuckers in the head!"

Something told me that they shared Winfield's aversion to fluffiness, so their callouts didn't exactly surprise me. What _did_ surprise me, however, was their use of a Bullhead to cut us off at the top of the alley. The thing came out of nowhere, and stopped Jaune and I from advancing further down the street. What surprised me even further was to see a mounted canon on the front of the thing. I could hear it revving up to fire, and I knew we didn't have much time. I pulled Jaune inside of the next door building, what looked to be another restaurant. It was empty, given the late hour, but I was fairly certain I heard a siren going off underneath the Bullhead's engines. We managed to make our way into the back, where we engaged the door's lock and took our breath. I still had some ringing in my ear from all of the gunfire, but was relatively untouched. It wouldn't last for long, but it bought us some breathing room.

"We need help…"

It was just then I remembered my bag, somehow still attached to my shoulder, and the scroll I had inside it. I hastily grabbed it and looked for Ozpin's number. When I connected, Ozpin's usual mug greeted me.

"Evening, professor, what can I do for you tonight? How is your date-"

"Not important, Ozpin. Right now I have ten heavily armed men and a cannon-mounted Bullhead hunting me down and I need backup ASAP. Call Coco and Velvet!"

" I can see it isn't going well. That's very sad, but I guess we'll send in the cleaner squad to make things a little better. You can expect a Beacon team there in seven minutes. Try to stay where we can see you if you can. Ozpin out. Oh, and by the way, Coco and Velvet turn their scrolls off entirely when they do go out on the town, so I have no way to contact them. You'll be on your own until the squad arrives."

His feed cut, leaving me alone for the next seven minutes fighting for my life. Effectively scared, I moved on to my next target. I typed in a set of commands into my scroll's console, and a few high pitched beeps echoed through the room.

"Hey, Jaune, you might wanna move if you want to keep your spine the same shape it is now…"

Jaune, likely familiar to self-inflicted torture as a result of his inability to react quickly, finally moved faster than a slug on dope, and managed to move out of the center of the room before a large pod came crashing into the same spot. I ran my hand across the pod's touch interface, confirming my identity, just as Coco taught me, and opening it.

I had to hand it to Beacon's Engineers, whoever they were, they knew how to make a really time efficient rocket pod.

Inside the pod, organized to my own specifications, was Arcturus, housed in a custom carrying sheath for when I wasn't in my combat garb, and my ammo belt. I grabbed them and strapped them on as quickly as I could, driven ever onward by the banging at the room's door.

I loaded up the weapon, and took aim at the door, switching my scope to its infrared sensor. I saw two men outside the door, using their rifles to try and break the handle of the door.

I relaxed, calming my arm as much as I could, taking aim at their chests, where I would be least likely to kill them. They were police, and even though they were trying to kill me, I couldn't very well go killing them because of it. I couldn't tell if they had an Aura or not, so I needed to be careful with my aiming. I didn't want my first combat experience to be one where I killed someone needlessly.

On the downdraft of my last breath, I fired two shots, in succession between kickbacks at the two forms behind the door. Within three seconds they both dropped to the ground, clutching their chests where a massive hole now took residence. They were alive, but unless they were within five minutes of a hospital, they weren't likely to live. I could tell that much by the amount of blood I could see. I had never shot anyone without an Aura before.

Seeing someone on the ground, convulsing as their Aorta spewed their blood onto the ground was… Gruesome, and mesmerizing, even. I had seen movies before, World War 2 films that depicted the brutal agony of battle, but seeing a man bleed out before your eyes… That was a whole new beast altogether.

Before I knew it, two more were rushing into the foyer, aiming their guns in my direction. I shot off another two rounds, clipping one in their knee, missing the other, but causing a good deal of panic among them.

"_Shit, she's armed! Fall back, get the damn Bullhead in here, we need her dead NOW."_

"_It can't fit, the clearance isn't high enough!"_

"_Use the damn sensors! Light up the place and send this bitch to Hell! We paid good Lien for that Cannon, and I'll be damned if it goes to waste!"_

Wait a minute, they weren't seriously...

"_Sir, Bullhead in position, we have to clear out before she opens fire!"_

Oh shit.

"Jaune, run, now! They're calling in the Bullhead!"

"Where are we supposed to go then? The only way out is through the door we're supposed to be running from!"

"Fuck My A- Jaune, we have to go up, that's it!"

"Uh… What?"

"The gaps created by the pod, climb up to the roof, then run like hell until help gets here. You follow?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Okay good, because we have about ten seconds before we are pumped full of a whole lot of holes, so hustle your bustle there and GO!"

With that I holstered my gun, and jumped as high as I could, just barely catching the edge of the gap the pod had made. Using the pod itself to steady my ascent, I pulled with all of my might, getting myself up to the next story of the building.

I put my hand down towards Jaune, doing my best to help him get up faster than I did.

Jaune was still getting his feet up from the other floor from the gap when the shots began. If I was to ever experience a Fiery Tornado, it would have been then. I couldn't hear anything but the bullets, and felt nothing but the assault of ten thousand angry wasps on my skin. I couldn't even think straight, I was in so much pain. Without an Aura, I would have been reduced to a pulp where I stood in a millisecond. The torrential fire went on for a good ten seconds, finally ending what felt like ten hours worth of agony.

All I could focus on was breathing correctly, trying to regain my senses, one by one. Slowly feeling around for something, anything, that would confirm I was still living, was my first job. When I was certain I felt the wall in front of me, I raised my hands to my ears in an attempt to regain some sense of hearing, slowly caressing them, hoping i hadn't gone deaf. What scared me was the wet feeling I felt when I went towards my head, near my ear's base., where my finger accidentally pierced the open flesh, sending me into another bout of pain, nearly causing me to vomit.

In the midst of my fit, I opened my eyes for the first time, shocking my senses back into reality. My throat felt too dry to talk, so I didn't bother trying to say anything. I leaned myself against the wall, looking over myself more carefully.

My dress was ripped in multiple places, with bullet holes everywhere, stained with my blood seeping out of wounds in my shoulder and hip. My lower half was less covered than the rest, leaving me more exposed than I desired, but at that rate, i was lucky to be alive, let alone even partially clothed.

My entire body burned from top to bottom. My eyes lacked the ability to focus on anything for more than a second before going cross eyed again. I managed to make out Jaune's form in the corner of the room, just barely, but unable to do anything to confirm his status. My bag was still next to me, but out of reach, near the corner next to a door, not even on its hinges anymore.

They came through that door soon after. One by one, they filed into the room, forming a circle around me, their weapons all trained on my head. Between their legs, I caught sight of one of them kicking Jaune in the head, either to check his ability to live or to simply punish him more for whatever sick reason they deemed appropriate.

I summoned my resolve and attempted movement by sitting up. I heard malice leak out of my voice as I spoke, eliciting a fierce growl as I spoke.

"Get your damn hands off of him you sick bast-"

"No more words for you, little wolf!"

My vision went blurry again as I felt a heavy blow to my jaw, as well as a muffled crackling sound. My jaw was broken, muting me unwillingly, nearly driving me to tears in addition to it all.

"Now then, I think it's time we did some educating, for your own good, little wolf. Although, don't know how long you'll live to benefit from it."

The cretin, Winfield, appeared before me once again, even more disheveled and mental looking than before. He kneeled down, right on top of me, leaning in close to my face. He took one look at the blood on my form and then smiled with seething loath. I noticed how his voice had dropped the distinct accent it had held earlier, replaced by a lighter, more sinister tone.

"My, oh my, you _really _are filthy, aren't you? Y'know, maybe if you cleaned yourself up, you could get a job and be productive in society, like the REST OF US!"

His hand went to my shoulder, and his thumb into my bullet wound. I lacked the ability to scream, to even cry out, all I could do was cry and offer hoarse dry heaves in response. I refused to look him in the eye, despite his proximity to me becoming even closer.

"There, there, little wolf, you see this is the easy part for you… I can guarantee to you that this is only the beginning. The feds won't interfere here, so we have all the time in the world, and I intend on making you suffer for a loooooong time, until you feel just as I did tonight; like the absolute scum of the world, condensed and put on display for all to see, all to laugh at. Now then, shall we get started?"

I was in Hell. He dug his other hand into my stomach, running his grimy digits around in my wounded body, driving me into even more grief. I could feel my stomach turning at a mile a minute, although between the pain and the vile poker's proximity to my organs, I was having trouble sourcing it. Not that I could think coherently anyways.

"_Hey, look lads, the Hag is givin' us our own light show! Bitch is startin' to glow, wouldja lookit?"_

Dammit all, of all the things to happen now, my damn Aura would start acting up. The fact that they could see it meant I was getting closer to exploding by the second, and I had never known how far it would take for me to become a Bio-Bomb where I stood.

I was being tormented, laughed at, and in the middle of a panic. I was still nowhere near being saved, and Jaune, for all i could tell, was dead in the corner. Everything was going to absolute shit within that one minute, every single fear I had, condensed and served to me hot.

"Little wolf, I'm going to teach you the one thing your kind is good for. And you know what? It will be the only pure act you will ever be able to commit, because after tonight, you'll never get another chance like this…"

His anger changed gears, his voice shifted into… something else. He backed off, removing his hand from my shoulder' but keeping my stomach well rooted. He moved slowly downwards, feeling up my hips and my tail as he went, sending shivers up my spine. He shifted back, and shimmied his hand onto the outer crevices of my crotch.

"Mmmm, for a blood-lusting beast, you sure do have a good body, little wolf. You ever been with a man before? A _real man?"_

If I could have told him to go fuck himself instead, I would have. Instead, all I could do was emit a low, guttural growl in response.

"Ooooh, that's what we like to hear. We'll all have a goooood time with you, lass, you can be sure of that. After all, this is purely educational, and it's better to be taught by many rather than by one…"

The men behind him began to grin and chuckle darkly, shifting impatiently, throwing down their weapons, preparing for something likely much more entertaining than killing. His hand began to move over my underwear, rubbing up and down my place. His face moved even closer to move, before moving down towards my chest, sniffing my orbs through the putrid breath washed over me all the time, simply accenting the pure hate that seethed out from his bespectacled, beady and bloodshot eyes. I was being groped incesantly by this racist madman.

Then, I did something I had never done before in my life, driven by the absolute disgust and horrified anguish I was experiencing in that moment.

I seemed to be at the end of a dark tunnel, with no chance of seeing the light again. I was confused, lost, and scared, no idea how to react. So, my instincts kicked in, and I did something I had never done before in my entire existence.

I opened my mouth as wide as I could and screamed. I shrieked as loud as I could, for any and all to hear, my only option midst the chaos and despair, my helpless plea to the universe for deliverance.

Obviously, Winfield was annoyed by my singular front of resistance, as he paused his freakish caress, taking the careful time to beat me into submission, to the point where I nearly went unconscious again. I wasn't even sure if my jaw was connected to my face anymore, I couldn't even feel it.

When he finished, he took a deep breath, and then poised himself for… entry.

"Why bother, little wolf? No one can hear you scream here, no one is going to come to save you now. You belong to me now…"

His emaciated, cracked lips moved towards mine, slowly closing the distance between us, moving in to steal away my precious innocence. I though it all was hopeless, was about to give in to the madness, until...

"_**Sorry, but unless I'm mistaken, she belongs to US!"**_

In the matter of half a second, Winfield was thrown from his position, flying to the side, crashing horizontally through the frame of the frame of the door, and out of my sight. I looked hazily to my right, where the voice had come from, to see Ruby in the skeleton of a broken window, brandishing a smoking Crescent Rose proudly, obviously equipped for a fight.

Dashing in out from behind her, Yang blew out the window next to her, showering the rest of the men in a monsoon of glass shards, blinding them. She took this as her cue, charging in towards the group, knocking heads together, breaking bones, and altogether creating mayhem.

I heard an explosion from outside, and the sound of aircraft engines decelerating. I could only imagine that being the Bullhead crashing to the ground as a result of some kind of assault.

"Dear Oum, Rika are you okay?!"

I slowly swiveled my bashed head to my left where Weiss kneeled next to my limp form, a horrified grimace on her usually stoic mug.

"I-I cand…."

"Damnit, hold still, I'll repair your Jaw. This will sting, but try not to flinch."

Weiss shut her eyes and began an odd chant, murmuring an odd mix of Latin and Russian sounding words, keeping a firm grasp on my disfigured jaw line. With a moment, I felt a sharp stab in my mouth, but tried my best to not move. This continued for about ten seconds, until the chanting ended, and Weiss released my face.

"There, now keep holding on, your jaw needs to be set. This is going to hurt more, so just stay with me a minute and-"

Not even pausing, she delivered a sharp jab to my jaw's joint near my ear, resulting in a distinct pop and a powerful wave of pain in that region. If I could open my mouth, I would likely be cursing her out.

"There, your jaw should be healed, more or less.

"Y-you're an Angel, you know t-that?"

Rolling her eyes, she oversaw the rest of my body, caring for it like a combat medic. She stopped at my stomach and gasped, reaching for something inside her dress.

"These imbeciles used anti-Aura ammunition in that Bullhead's cannon, and such ammo is banned under every single war constitution ever created. Your wounds won't heal until all of the poisoned bullets are removed, and I don't have the tools to do that. We have to use first aid until we can get you back to Beacon."

"Although, I w-wouldn't be surprised about a-anything at this point. I-I'm pretty sure they s-shot some people in your place too."

She shook her head, shaking my report off as if their lives didn't matter. "Father already told me as much. We knew there was trouble as soon as the bistro's alarms went off reporting weapons discharge. I would have been sent out on damage reports if I hadn't been sent to retrieve you, so I am already aware of the situation."

She worked as she talked, carefully treating my every wound in a speedy manner. Meanwhile Yang and Ruby quickly wrapped up their fight, easily clearing through the group of ten unarmed men with their pants halfway down. Yang was toying with one of them, purposely dodging his punches, riling him up. Ruby was in the corner, having done her piece, doting over Jaune.

"J-jesus Christ, is J-jaune okay? Is he… Alive?"

"Don't be silly, he had the strongest Aura at Beacon before you came along, he may be in critical condition, but he'll live. Anything less than what you two have, and you would have been killed from blood loss. That cannon was designed to kill off fast-moving, high priority targets; A.K.A Hunters and Huntresses. Where a ragtag group of pigs like this got such high grade weaponry is definitely worth investigating."

I nodded slowly in WInfield's direction. "G-go ask him. He w-would probably know."

Not a second after I said that, we heard some very pained screams coming from the room, accompanied by gunshots and unfolding steel.

"**Tell me where you got that fucking cannon you son of a bitch, or I will end you here and now!"**

"Dear Oum, Blake, I said interrogate him, not kill him! Don't move, I'll be right back."

Weiss moved into the other room, likely going to stop Blake's less than safe interrogation. With so much going on, I simply couldn't stay still. I slowly moved all of my limbs to make sure nothing was broken, taking care to go slowly. Surely but slowly, I managed to rise from the wall, and stand hunched over, with a gaping limp in my step. I gaited over to Winfield,whom I still heard screaming in the room next door. When I stood in the doorway, I was stunned.

Blake kneeled over Winfield, keeping one hand on Gambol Shroud, which was firmly entrenched in his gut, being twisted around slowly, the occasional bullet being fired for good measure. Weiss stood about four feet behind her, terrified yet unmoving. She was just as stunned as I, unable to think of a contingency for such an occasion.

I limped to her side as fast as I could. I had to stop her before yet another idiot was killed tonight. I hunched over behind her, and grabbed her shoulder firmly.

"NO! I'm not stopping, he deserves every minute of this for what he did to he- Oh my Oum, Rika!"

Thinking I was someone else, she elbowed me forcibly in the gut, striking one of my bandaged bullet wounds and knocking me to the floor. Only when she turned around, however, did she notice it was me.

"B-blake… He is an ingrate, a horrifying example of racism, and he nearly k-killed me and Jaune, b-but he _**does not**_ deserve to die… N-not like that…"

Blake had a millisecond of realization on her face, just a brief second of regret, before her expression hardened again and she turned darkly back to Winfield.

"Let's make it easy on him then…"

In one fluid motion, she knelt down, removed Gambol Shroud from his gullet, and brought it to his neck.

"See you in Hell, _**Beast**_."

Just like that, Winfield was gagging up blood, clutching his gushing throat as Blake stood and cleaned her blade is his retched excretions. She shed no hint of remorse, looked instead like it was her solemn duty to put him down. Weiss remained silent, quietly hyperventilating with wide eyes. Her hands trembled, and she eventually fell to her knees not far from me. Blake stood over Winfield, simply staring at his body, now finally bleeding out, ceasing to move. When I heard his last breath leave his body, she leaned down and closed his eyes.

"N-no… Not again… Never again…"

"W-weiss, what the fuck did I just watch?"

Amid a teary gaze, she stoically whispered to me. "A gruesome torture technique, used only by the most advanced, most deadly assassins of the White Fang. It was created to gain information from and shame those who earned their meals off of the blood of Faunus. A blade is dug into the stomach to cleanse it of slavery-born gluttony, and then the throat is severed to show the mercy Faunus under their rule were denied. Then, they are sent to Hell, stripped of their Humanity, labeled as they too were… _**Beast…**_"

Her complete detail of such things was disheartening, but I pressed further into the matter.

"H-how do you k-know all of this?"

Her eyes teared up again, she almost began sobbing as she almost inaudibly whispered in my direction.

"I was forced to watch family die like that; My younger brother, my uncles, my childhood friend, my mother…"

Then she could not hold back any more. She drove her hands into her eyes, trying to stem the tide of salty tears, unsuccessfully. Watching your family die was one thing, I could understand that, but seeing them all die like that… It was scarring, at best. It just then occurred to me the kind of life Weiss had led before she came to Beacon, Hell, even now, still. Constantly waiting, watching, tense and ready to deter another assassination plot, forever the target of murderers and killers, a bullseye painted on your very existence, no matter how it is lived. Forever simply labeled as a high value target…

Blake turned from her silent vigil, looking hardly over the two of us, as if we were subordinates.

"Weiss, go get Ruby and Yang, we're leaving. Police will be swarming this place, and we don't want to be here when they are, trust me."

Weiss simply hiccupped, recovering enough to move, and ran out of the room, tears still staining her sleeves.

Blake moved towards me, scooping me up in a princess carry, and slowly striding out of the room, not looking back at Winfield's now still form.

Nonchalantly, blake mover her mouth closer to my ear, and whispered in a low key fashion.

"You killed two of them. They deserved what they got, no matter what you say. Attack someone with intent to maim and rape, they deserve whatever you can throw at them. Do not feel even the slightest shred of guilt for them."

I turned my head to look her in the eye, but she refused to meet me, and instead looked head on. In that moment, held aloft by Blake's nimble, surprisingly strong arms, I felt more helpless and afraid than I ever had before that night. I felt as though every tide wall in my subconscious was breaking, letting out all of my suppressed emotions, every bout of fear, rage, dread, apprehension, everything flowing out at once. I began to tremble and shake in her arms, growing more and more unstable. I did all I could think to do, and cried violently in her arms. I felt like I was two, I felt immature and weak, but I didn't care. I had never experienced something so chaotically fucked up as this night, and all I wanted to do was lean into Blake's arms and wail at the cruelty of it all.

She did not stop me, did not shove me away or attempt to silence me as we drew near the others. All she did was offer her comfort, herself, her warming embrace, carrying me away, relieving my burdens and soothing my anguish, even if only for a brief minute. In every meaning of the word, I was in pain, and I selfishly did what my body told me to do, just cry and moan and wail and scream away at all of my harbored unconscious; and all Blake did was stand there, holding me as long as I needed, being the pillar that could lift me from the most basic burden of them all, gravity, as I succumbed to my mental collapse.

No one uttered a single word, a singular glance of concern or shred of scorn, for they all too knew how I felt. I imagine they all felt it too, at one point or another, that moment when reality matters not, when all you want to do is shrivel and become nothing, when everything is so simply wrong that there is nothing left to do but curl up and wallow in self pity and anguish. Yes, I knew they all knew my feeling, so I knew I was safe. Jaune was still unconscious, unable to weigh in on such matters, but I felt he would understand as well. He was as much a part of this night as I was, understood what that felt like.

Blake hefted me all the way up to the roof, where our exfil Bullhead awaited. We boarded the vehicle, myself still in her grasp, Weiss still visibly perturbed, Ruby and Yang aware of our issues but yet blissfully unaware of their complexities. As we soared over the Vale skyline, towards Beacon, I began to yield to my exhausted physiological condition. My wails turned to low moans, and those to simply whimpers. I wrapped my tail around myself to shield my exposed lower half, and closed my still wet eyes.

The next thing I knew, I was passed out, gladly separated from that existential pause I had experienced, and the night from Hell that triggered it all.

* * *

_**I think this chapter really takes the expression "It's been one of those days," to a whole new level. Next chapter expected sometime in Late October, most likely sooner but giving myself leeway with new keyboard coming soon. **_

_**As always, Cheers mates. **_


	14. Chapter 13

Honestly, I felt like a log. I could hardly feel anything in my body other than this dull ache and feeling of bound pressure all around me. I lacked the strength to open my eyes, and simply laid where I was, unmoving. Not all of my senses were functional, so I waited until I was certain everything was off of sleep mode. I opened my eyes groggily, instantly regretting my decision, as even the dim lights above me caused significant pain. I let out a small groan, shifting myself, alerting myself to the reality that I was in a hospital bed yet again.

"Oh thank Oum, you're awake!"

What registered as Ruby sounded off to my left, and the mass of red and black that was soon tightly wrapped around my shoulder affirmed her presence.

"You have a bad habit of blacking out on us while you're mortally wounded, and honestly you're going to give me a heart attack before long, you know that!?"

I chuckled slightly, cut off by the wave of pain from my chest, although I was beginning to feel a sharp stinging my left shoulder as well. I could safely assume my wounds weren't quite healed yet.

"You know, Ruby, I agree with that. Sorry to keep you so worried, but I didn't really have much say in any of this. How long was I out for this time?"

Ruby looked at me, surprisingly in tears. I didn't expect her to be so heartfelt for her team, especially someone she had only known for two weeks, but it appeared I had already wormed my way into her large, albeit fragile heart.

"A whole day! It's almost night time now, and we've all been sitting here with you, waiting for you to get up and start saying something sarcastic, but you didn't, and I was almost crying, I was so worried you weren't going to wake up!"

Weiss chose then to jump into the conversation.

"Likely a side effect of the anti-Aura ammunition's poison. Her body is taking time to repair itself and flush out any toxins so the Aura can flow normally, which takes a lot of energy. Given your pallor and generally horrid look, I would assume you aren't done with your healing yet."

"No, Weiss, I'm not. I still feel like swiss cheese, but altogether glad I'm not dead. Thank you all for intervening on my behalf, again. I take solace in knowing that certain… Things didn't happen because of you all."

No one directly addressed me, all looking a bit forlorn and pensive, all of them knowing what would have happened if they weren't around. Ruby might not have understood the entire picture, but she still could have seen me lying on the ground bleeding out in front of the laughing racist pack.

"Rika, I know it's a bit soon to be asking about something like this, but we all have to know… What the hell happened yesterday that resulted in you being chased down like that? I thought it was just a date?", inquired Yang.

"I went to a Schnee steakhouse for dinner, and the receptionist refused to serve me because I was a Faunus, told me to go scrounge around in the trash if I wanted real food. So, I took matters into my own hands, and played tattle tale on him to Weiss. She got him fired, I got him humiliated, and then he walked in two hours later flanked by ten armed commandos and a Bullhead gunship. We got cornered in the next door shop, and I called Ozpin for help, he sent you, since Coco and Velvet did not deem it necessary to keep their damn scrolls on."

Yang seemed to be physically pained for a moment, wincing at my story. but returned a large grin afterwards.

"Heh, we taught you well, then. Don't take anyone's crap, just like your big sis Yang taught ya, I couldn't be more proud!"

"It was brave for you to do what you did. So many other Faunus would have simply left and gone to a cafe for dinner. Not a lot of people are willing to fight for their rights these days…"

"Well, Blake, I come from a world where if you didn't fight for yourself, you're considered a pussy, and couldn't be successful in life. Call it a confidence thing, but back home, it's pretty common."

"Even so, you could have very well died for going after someone employed under the Schnee name, I'm surprised there wasn't an angry mob after you instead of a little squad. No less has been done in the past for such things."

"And you know what? That makes me sick. It's no wonder you joined up when you did, Blake. If I lived like that for so long, I would have been positively _lusting_ for some payback. But, then again, I guess that is why things are the way they are today, given the state of affairs."

Blake nodded, keenly looking into my eyes. That communicated to me that I was dead on with reality. It was easy to imagine the fanatic suffering of people in the world I experienced last night. That kind of humiliation and torment on a daily basis would make anyone hunger for blood.

"Well then, it seems you've acquired a sense of enlightenment for the condition of the Faunus, Professor."

Ozpin stood at the door, waiting patiently to be invited in, sipping his coffee dutifully.

"I was wondering when you would be stopping by. Well, come on in, I'm sure you have a good bit of material to discuss with me regarding my evening out on the town?"

"I do, in fact. Hopefully this will be in haste, as I am sure you and your team have a bit to talk about as well, after we finish our business."

Ozpin entered, and moved rapidly to the chair in the room's far corner. Everyone else was already seated around me, so they all adjusted their own seats to face his. I managed to sit up slightly, grunting in pain as my wounds scraped against my bandages again. When I was propped up, I blew a few stray hairs out of my face, brought my tail out from under the very heavy blanket, and refocused on Ozpin.

"Now then, after conferring with a few associates of mine, we have confirmed the identity of the men who attacked you and Mister Arc yesterday. They refer to themselves as 'Vale's Police Squad', but in actuality are branded as vigilantes by the city's actual police. They specialize in 'social justice' missions, usually those where a human had been wronged by a Faunus in some way, and the group proceeds to… rectify the situation. Whether or not you encountered their entire force is unclear, but we do know that you put them out of comission for a time."

"So what am I supposed to do about the fact that they might still want me dead?" I asked.

"Stay out of the city, unless you are there for strictly administrative reasons. Beacon is your sanctuary, and will remain so until you go off of the group's high alert. It does not matter how safe you think you are, how trained you may be, how armed you could be, if they get their hands on you again, they will not show mercy, and it will be far easier for them to do what they wish the second time around…"

I gulped in fear, visibly beginning to sweat a little. The room was hot, but I could tell it was my beating heart that was making me heat up. I had never been the subject of a manhunt before, and now it sounded like they could get to me anywhere I was, save Beacon, the way Ozpin was describing it. Needless to say, I would be sending Ruby on any city errands I would have for the next few months. Hell, even that might not be safe...

"Now, I would ask that all of you leave the room. There is something that the Professor and I must discuss in private, regarding the evening."

Ozpin looked at each of as he spoke, creating that aura of incomparable, dutiful compliance he commanded, resulting in Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang calmly, yet hastily walking out of the room. Ruby hesitated at the door, looking back with a classic look of apprehension.

I shooed her on with a wave. "I'll be fine, Ruby. Don't worry about me."

She looked down, and mumbled under her breath, "It's when you say that, that makes me worry."

Then, Ozpin and I were alone, both of us grimly aware of the situation. I knew all too well what he wanted to talk to me about.

"Rika, there is a bit of a situation to confront right now. I realize that this is not the best condition for your to be shown in, but they insisted on meeting with you as soon as you awoke. Do your best to focus…"

Before I could even respond to his suspicious assertion, he whipped out his scroll and set it down in front of me. The screen enlarged before me, and projected a holographic plane before me. Then, a familiar table materialized on it, housing five shrouded forms, as I had seen previously.

"Ah, you are finally awake. A pity, really, if we had listened to my plan you would have pumped full of adrenaline and forced awake a day ago, and saved us all the time it has taken to wait for you…"

"Aaaaand it is _such _a wonderful day now that you are here, dear counselor. Tell me, what have I done now that warrants my immediate disintegration?"

Defense stepped in to answer my snide remarks.

"You killed two men while visiting the city of Vale, and fled the scene. Now, for someone who has just taken a position of high esteem, at the world's single finest institution for the defense of mankind, this is a situation that requires… _Very. Careful. Diction. Do I make my meaning clear, Miss Clarence?_"

"Y-yes madam."

"Then we may proceed. Although it pains me to say so, those who would see you expunged from any and all future functions will speak first."

Leaning forward, prosecution nodded vigorously, accenting his convictions. "Yes, yes I will! Finally, I have something that will make you people see that this _thing_ before us is not worthy of life, let alone everything Ozpin has stupidly granted her. Two men stand deceased in her wake, and another nearly bled out after she sliced his damn throat, leaving him for dead. Are we simply going to let her go back to her cushioned life inside Ozpin's walls? No! We are going to smash her like the nuisance of an insect she is, and be done with all of this once and for all, before she has the chance to cause any more unnecessary harm!"

Wait, Winfield survived?! How the Hell did that happen? Regardless, I had to continue on. If they asked, I had to take responsibility for the deaths, otherwise Blake would be standing right beside me in this trial, and I didn't wish that upon her.

"Pardon me, but unless I am mistaken," I interjected, "It was perfectly legal to defend yourself when ten heavily armed men began shooting up an entire block with assault rifles and a Bullhead mounted cannon specifically designed to kill you!"

"Miss Clarence is correct, the men chasing after her were no doubt seeking to cause her great harm based, on the reports, and even end her life and that of her companion, the actions she performed in that time were perfectly suitable to someone of her nature, and that of anyone even! She should not be executed for defending herself and the life of another against a hostile force! And are we forgetting that the mongrels had illegal weapons trained on her? What exactly was she supposed to do, outrun a jet-powered vehicle because it would be wrong of her to break someone else's things? Not only that, there was no way for her to be certain that these men did or did not have Auras, so her reasons for harming those men must have been close to dire."

"It was a dire situation! Those men were breaking into our only source of protection, and I took the initiative, by summoning my weapon and calling for reinforcements. I would be dead right now, as a matter of fact, if Ruby Rose and her team were not present to help me."

Prosecution grumbled under his breath, "Would have saved us a lot of trouble, they would have…"

Defense chimed in, eager to shut him up. "What exactly transpired that night that caused the group to attack you so violently? There must be a reason behind their hatred of you."

"It was simple; I got their friend fired from a Schnee Steakhouse, and humiliated him in the process. As such, they came after me in turn. Look, in all honesty, I realize _why_ this is such a hangup for all of you, but I still do not see why we are making it much more of an issue than it needs to be. I was assaulted with heavy weaponry, and I fought back. Two men who wished death upon me died because of this, and another was nearly killed. I take full responsibility for those acts, now, can we simply move along with this, I have much more important things to deal with. I've already missed two days of training, and the Ensemble I lead isn't getting any better with me in a hospital bed, arguing with a hologram."

This time, the figure on the far left spoke, directing the conversation in doing so. "It is not a matter of you killing those men. The legality of that can easily be settled. However, we noticed that on the man that nearly died, we observed a rather unusual type of injury. It hails from a very advanced, very cruel torture technique in use by the White Fang to extract information from and humiliate high value targets. Only the most secretive of agents would have access to such a skill, but you claim responsibility for all three of the incidents. We want to know how it is, in three weeks of living at Beacon, you learned such a dastardly technique."

I didn't have an answer for them. I couldn't very well tell them that I happened to watch Blake cut Winfield open in front of me, while I watched. No, I couldn't say anything like that. They would know about Blake's past, and she would be outed completely. No one else in Beacon had that kind of experience, no one at all. I was trapped, and I had nothing to give them. I didn't want to think about what would happen if I couldn't answer them. So I did what every single college course ever taught me to do; stall for time to think of a real answer by offering a bullshit answer first.

"Sir, I-I'm sorry, but I ca-"

"_**No! She didn't do that, it was me! I'm the one who tortured him, I'm the one who tried to kill him…"**_

Shocked, I jumped in my seat as the door nearly broke off of its hinges. Blake stood on the other side of it, and ran over to the hologram. Gripping the edges of my bed, turned the scroll around so all of the council was facing her.

"What is the meaning of this? I was told we were in total private, Ozpin!"

"Look, I can't allow you to blame Rika for what happened to him, because I was the one who did that to him!"

"Girl, you are no Faunus, and unless you have cat ears underneath that bow, you were never in the White Fang either."

Blake adamantly yanked the bow off of her head, exposing her ears blatantly to the digital crowd before her.

"Good enough for you?! I don't care what you do to me, because I've already done enough to deserve whatever you throw at me, but she hasn't done anything wrong, so she doesn't deserve that kind of punishment!"

"Blake..."

I had no words. I couldn't say anything, my mind too much of a traumatized mess to comprehend what she had just done. It had taken Blake an incidental bout of rage towards Weiss to reveal herself to even her teammates, those who she is supposed to trust with her life. She did not even tell Ozpin, the most understanding and trustworthy man on the planet.

Now, she stood here screaming this fact to the highest authority on the planet, who could have her executed on the spot, all for my sake. I couldn't give it any kind of logical reasoning.

"Well, this is _quite_ the turn of events, isn't it? We not only have a murderer in our midst, but a murderer _**and **_a terrorist. I see no reason to not kill two birds with one stone and send them both into exile. By doing so, we rid society of two threats. "

"Hold, before we can act on anything, we must take into account all of the factors we have been given. Miss Belladonna, you have shared with this council your presence within the ranks of the White Fang. Do you still hold any allegiance to this organization in any way, shape, or form?"

Blake looked straight on, through teary eyes, and whispered a simple "No".

"Have you renounced your vows to this group, and taken up arms truly and fully against them? "

"I have." she answered. She was no longer whispering, instead slowly building confidence in her answers, wiping her fear from her eyes.

"If confronted by anyone you have previously associated with within the Fang, would you, and could you stand in arms against them effectively?"

Blake swallowed heavily, and paused. "I-I can, and I will. My presence here has already assured that."

"Given that you are under the surveillance of the most gifted and iconic warriors in this world, I would hope you wouldn't squander your chance to reshape your destiny. You have renounced your allegiance to the White Fang to this council, and I, for one, see that adequate evidence of your sincerity."

"_**ARE WE SERIOUSLY GOING TO TAKE THE WORD OF A FUCKING TERRORIST ASSASSIN? SHE IS CLEARLY LYING TO OUR FACES AND I REFUSE TO ACCEPT SUCH A BLATANT ABU-"**_

"I accept her renunciation." Prosecution was cut off by the lone voice of the far right, another uncommon interloper in the assembly.

"As do I. In a majority ruling, this Council of powers has declared that Blake Belladonna is innocent of affiliation to any and all Terrorist organizations at this time."

Blake raised her ears and eyes in astonishment, looking ready to burst into tears again. I had never seen her like that, in such an emotionally vulnerable state. It scared me a little bit, to see someone as strong and eternally stoic as Blake able to even break down like this.

"However…. The fact remains that three men are dead, and you are both still in a position of liability for their deaths. Unless you can provide substantial and absolute evidence beyond what has already been expressed by the defense that your actions were unintentional, we have no choice but to proceed with the charge of Murder."

Ozpin stood at this moment, walking towards the Council's hologram, looking to be on the edge of an idea or two.

"Councilmen, if I may. I have a solution to this dilemma. If you would kindly look back to my initial report of the incident, you will see that it was reported that the ammunition used against Miss Clarence and Mister Arc were infused with illegal Aura-weakening poison. Their story should hold up rather clearly if it can be proved to you that such ammunition was used on them, correct? Unless I am mistaken, no one would go so far as to use highly illegal ammo to stage a scene, and then get shot themselves."

"We follow your logic, Headmaster. If you can procure evidence that such weapons were used, then these two will be kept clear of any charge of manslaughter."

"Why, you needn't look farther, the evidence is sitting in the hospital bed directly in front of you."

Ozpin pointed at me with his cane, keeping his eyes glued to the Council.

"If Miss Clarence would be so kind as to remove her dressings, it will be clearly seen that the effects of the poison are still active in her body, as her Aura cannot effectively heal her wounds, unlike a normal Aura user."

Uneasily, I took his hint, and moved to remove the bandage over my shoulder. It was the largest and easiest to see wound, and still stung the most. Carefully, I bit the tape that held the gauze together off with my teeth, and slowly unraveled the cloth. Every motion ached and burned, soliciting a few sharp breaths from me, but I dared not to give the council the satisfaction of seeing me wince in pain like that.

When all of the gauze was gone, I slowly peeled the bandage from my skin, revealing the wound to the hologram before me. Blake needed to turn around, and moved to the far corner of the room, dry heaving at the smell. It was worse for me, as I was much closer to it, but I had to keep my composure under the watchful, judgemental eye of the councilmen. The bullet hole had enlarged slightly, and turned a sickly shade of green. I swear I saw a small wisp of green gas emerge from the wound, but that was likely my eyes glazing over from the acrid stench of it. I knew it was infected, and I knew that it was poisoned, since the skin adjacent to the wound was turned a sickly green pallet, and the veins around it were visible, a dark blue and black to contrast the forest colors. Honestly, it was a miracle I wasn't still unconscious.

For once, Prosecution didn't have anything to say about it. He leaned back, perusing the scene before him. The others did similar things, before Defense was the first to speak up.

"We have seen enough. We will now vote. All in favor of suspending all charges, speak now."

"I will vote in favor."

"As will I."

"As will I. No one can fake an infection like that. She was clearly shot with high-grade chemo-weaponry."

"Then it is a majority agreement. The aforementioned subjects shall not be charged. Councilmen, this meeting is adjourned.

_**Veritatem venit lux a tenebris"**_

In a swift moment, our Innocence was declared, and we were dismissed. Jesus, these people really didn't like to waste time. Either that, or they were all as done with Prosecution as we were.

Blake finished her spasm, returned to the bed, still not looking in my direction, likely because of the continuing odor from my wound.

"Ozpin, can we please call a nurse in here, this thing looks like it's going to start spewing pus any minute!"

"Please don't put that image in my head, not right now…"

"Sorry, Blake. But seriously, can I get some help?"

"I will send a nurse your way as I leave. But before I go…"

Ozpin strolled next to blake, and put his hand tenderly on her shoulder, looking her in the eyes.

"What you did, just now… Have no shame in it. The stress would have killed you sooner or later, and I do believe you just saved both of your lives in the process. It was very noble of you."

Without saying anything else, Blake looked down, contemplating his thoughts. Ozpin took this as his cue to leave, and walked out. We waited in silence for the nurse to come, not wanting to disturb this tentative, calm silence between us. When the Nurse arrived, she spent a good five minutes cleaning out my wounds, all of them in a similar state, and spending another five ranting about how she was going to kill the floor manager for her idiotic absentmindedness. After all, bandages needed to be changed every hour with a poisoned patient, she had mused. She left behind a bottle of antiseptic with her, in case the wound flared up again, and told me she should be back in an hour.

We were alone, so I figured it would be as good a chance as any try talking to her again.

"Blake, I…"

Her head bounced up, quickly shaking back and forth. She pulled out her scroll as she did this, and typed furiously on it. After that, she briskly exited the room, leaving me with a buzzing scroll on the table next to me and a lot of anticipation. Just as I caught sight of Blake's hair passing through the door, I managed to open my scroll. I had one new message. When it opened it, it read,

'_Not here, not now. Meet me on the roof of the Hospital tonight if you are able. I'll leave a rope for you to climb up from your window. Come after the last nurse leaves at Midnight.'_

Honestly… Did these people not realize what it means for someone to recuperate? I Would probably need to channel whatever I could of my Aura into my arms just to make it up there, since I had close to no upper arm strength after a week of training with Arcturus, not that I had any to begin with either. But, I was willing to put my strained muscles and spirit aside for the sake of answers. Answers… that I would have to wait a good few hours for. Looking at the clock on my scroll, it was only half past seven.

Impatient and exhausted, I flopped backwards into my bedsheets, forgetting about my wounds and earning myself a good degree of throbbing, mind numbing pain as a reward for absentmindedness. After the pain subsided, I simply sat there and drifted through all of my thoughts, one after another, letting them all flow into each other.

I thought about how Ruby was really worried about me. I only met her just recently, compared to people she has known for so long already. It really was something that she could latch onto people that fast and develop the kind of relationship (even if it was one sided, for now at least) that she would be in tears of them being in the hospital. I thought about Blake, and her last minute decision to intervene. Her motives, like much else about her, were a mystery. However, she seemed… Much more approachable than I remembered ever seeing her before coming to Remnant. I didn't get that feeling where she simply wanted to be alone with her book and didn't have the time for you. Well, she was still like that in public, but only when I first met her did she appear that way towards me.

I thought about Weiss, kneeling before the grotesque body of someone she knew nothing about, but could just as easily relate to her own suffering. The horrors of seeing your family die in front of you… What that does to a person, no one should ever have to go through.

I thought of Jaune, still nowhere to be seen, kicking myself that I didn't ask anyone about his status. He was in a pretty bad shape when I saw him last, worse than anything I had ever seen. I wondered if he was dead. I wondered if Phyrra would blame me for getting him killed. She wouldn't say that, but her heart would churn with disgust, probably. She would never outwardly admit it, but maybe she would have finally learned how to hate someone… Me.

Poring over those negative thoughts, those hypothetical horrors, I wandered into sleep, either by my own exhaustion or by the power of the new meds in my saline bag. I was too mentally spent to dream, so in what seemed like a second or two, I was back in the real world. The lights of my equipments shone dimly in the otherwise darkened room. Not wanting to look at my scroll, I searched the walls of the area for a clock. Above the door, a small clock with glow in the dark hands read a bit after 1 in the morning. I was an hour late for my meeting with Blake.

* * *

In a state of half panic and half drowsiness, I carefully disconnected myself from my monitors, removing the needle from my arm, and ripping the heart monitors off of my chest. I would replace them, of course, when i returned, but I was certain I wouldn't be leaving with them still attached. Eager not to attract the night watch, i turned my monitor off before disconnecting it, not wanting anyone to think I was flat-lining. I tentatively swung my heavy legs over the metal rails of my bed, slowly inching my way over them, finally landing on the floor. I was still a bit weak, but I managed not to flop onto my back, landing on my feet at the very least. I donned my slippers and an extra robe, and made my way towards the window.

I shuffled drowsily towards the outside, and pulled it open. I was greeted with a generous gust of blisteringly cold wind, but soon after it died down for a gentle night's breeze, although still just as cold. I poked my head out of the window, looking around for the rope Blake mentioned. Just behind the rims of the window, I spotted a small black knot, and pulled it towards me. Cautiously, I pulled down on it as hard as I could, to ensure it could hold my weight. When it did not come down any more, I moved into the window sill, and put my feet on the knot as well as securely as I could. When i stood on the rope, I was pulled up hastily, not needing to climb. Ascending the building another three floors, I closed my eyes, trying my best not to look down at the dark ground below me.

A minute or two passed, and I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up, making out Blake's face just above the roof's edge, a hand outreached beneath it.

"Come on, grab it. It's cold up here, and I have something for you." she complained.

Not disagreeing with her, I clamped my hand around hers, and she hoisted me onto the ledge. I moved away from it, and looked over the landscape of the roof. Nothing was really there, except vents and ducts of all kinds. Only the small ledge in front of us seemed anything close to appropriate for sitting.

"Here, Weiss said you would probably want this."

She tossed me a small woolen bundle of some kind. When I examined it, it turned out to be a dark grey fur Ushanka. I gladly donned it and let all of the flaps down around my neck and ears to block out the bitter wind. I was more mentally tolerant of the cold than physically, so I was shivering quite a bit.

"Tell her I said much obliged. Now that I'm here, and we're alone, can we finally talk freely?"

"Yes, I made sure nobody could hear us through the vents. We're completely alone."

"Good… So now maybe you can tell me why you put your own hide on the line for my sake?"

"Right, about that… There is quite a bit of explaining to do for that."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, so I'll stay here as long as you want and listen."

Blake faced me, her face reddened by the cold, gilded gaze reflecting the soft moonlight from the heavens. If I wasn't a Faunus, the only way I would be able to see would likely be her eyes, in fact. They positively gleamed in the night.

"Here, I want you to turn around then. Take a good look at the view."

Obliging her, I spun around, to face the ledge I had just come from. What I saw left me in wonder.

The same scene I had viewed from the balcony of Ozpin's tower now laid before me, but transformed. Instead of hues of warm colors, a palette of darkness dashed with golden light and silver waves donned the horizon. The seas were calm, radiating the moon's shattered reflection from the waves. The city of Vale was alive as ever, airships going to a fro, cars and buses, trains and bikes, all passing through the illuminated city. Beacon's empty campus stood as a contrast of the far off vista, but simultaneously blended with the gilded horizon in front of me.

I stood in awe of my scenery, steeling myself to the elements, standing straight up, not covering myself or even shivering. My hair bounced gently in the wind, occasionally obstructing my view. I didn't care. All I could do was stand and stare.

"This, this is why I did what I did. This is just one of the many sights that amaze you in the world. I've had my chance to see them all, but you, you've been here less than a month, not even a fraction of the time I've had to see this world. It just seemed so wrong, that someone who had sinned for a living, like me, could go on like nothing happened, and you were to be robbed of something like this. Not only that, I don't have anyone left in this world to live for. My mother died when I was too young to remember, my father is somewhere, unknown to me, with no intention of ever meeting his baby girl. You, you have someone left in this world to live for. If you had been executed tonight, your father wouldn't have been able to keep living. But, if I had died, then, I thought, no one would really care mu-"

The crack of flesh hitting flesh at high speeds rang through the peaceful night air, shattering the moment into a million pieces, and leaving Blake to massage her stinging cheek.

Nursing my hand, I turned to her, advancing on her slightly, donning my angry face.

"You know, I actually thought you were smarter than everyone else. Someone like you who says you were weaned on sorrow and misery, maybe someone like you should easily be able to see what it is that you have here, to see just how fucking senseless what you just said was. 'If I had died, then, I thought, no one would really care much.' What the actual fuck are your teammates then, chopped liver?! Blake, can you look me dead in the eyes and say to me without any kind of a doubt that no one in this world would be affected by your death? Can you really do that? Because if you can, then you are a lot more dense than you look. You're right, I haven't been here less than a month, but in that time I can already see that those three girls love you like a sister! For you to simply sit there and say they wouldn't care if you up and died, what do you take them for? Do you have so little trust in people, that you can be so callous about that?"

I was so disgusted, I couldn't even look her in the eye anymore. I turned my back on her, and crossed my arms. I looked out over the ledge, looking at nothing in particular, sorting through my rage as Blake, beginning to shiver a little, stood behind me, not saying anything.

"What would you have done if I went through with it, then?"

I turned back around, looking to meet Blake's eyes again. Instead of finding her, I didn't find anything. She was gone, or out of sight. I hadn't heard anything, or sensed any kind of movement around me. I shivered, and not from the cold. That she could hide her steps even from a Faunus so close to her was impressive.

"B-Blake? Where did you go? Blake?"

I moved inward towards the vents, thinking maybe she had hidden herself behind one of them. I had no idea what to, or what to think. I was being played by a master of shadow, someone whose incarnation of their soul literally _was_ a shadow of themselves. I was either being watched, or abandoned, and neither possibility was pleasurable to my mind.

As I rounded my loop for what seemed the fifth time, I heard a low whisper in the wind, barely audible. "Monster… Monster…"

The whisper continued to echo in my ears, building ever so slightly as I carefully tread near the roof's edge.

"I… I'm a monster. Only a monster would do what I did…"

I still had no visual on Blake, and was beginning to get a little bit scared by all of this. I felt like I was losing my mind.

"A monster… doesn't have friends… No one loves a monster… Nobody can even look a monster in the eyes."

Through the corners of my eyes, I saw various shadows move around me, all at one. I keep on flipping around, only to catch another movement on the other side of the roof. I had nowhere to go, and I didn't trust anywhere but where I stood. I was locked in place, unsure of what exactly was going on.

Then, before I knew it, she was right on top of me.

"_**A monster hunts for the blood of its prey!"**_

I fell back onto my ass, terrified of what stood over me. It had Blake's form, and her body, and there is where all similarities ended. Her hair was disheveled and crusted over, with what I didn't dare to imagine. Her hands had somehow degenerated into a set of claws, still glistening with some kind of viscous liquid. Her face, by far, was the most nightmare inducing. Her mouth had grown into a maw of fangs and incisors, seeping with the same viscous liquid as her claws. Her eyes… Hey eyes were composed of alternating rings, half her usual gold, the other a deep blood red. In the middle of her eye sat a deep red dot, completing her intimidating form in its entirety. I was too frightened to move, much else think about what the hell was going on.

"_**Now you see, this is what I really am! I'm the thing of nightmares, the spawn of horror tales and subject of drunken trophy hunts… I was never meant to have a home, to have any kind of relationship with anyone or anything. All I can do in this world is kill and then go back to the shadows!"**_

"_NO!"_

Acting on pure instinct, I dived forward at the beast before me, passing straight through the now revealed apparition. As I laid on the ground, getting my face out of the gravel on the roof, I shook my head. My Aura flare was at its peak by now, shading my skin over in the all too familiar black wisps.

"No, that _isn't_ what you really are! What that was, was an illusion meant to control someone's opinion about you! That was in no way, shape or form, who you really are. I'm done seeing you through smoke and mirrors, Blake, I want to see you just the way you are!"

I looked all of the way around me, trying to make out Blake from her legion of shadow minions. I never knew her cloning ability went to such lengths as this. I could only imagine what she would have used if I was an enemy. Maybe I was an enemy. I couldn't tell.

I continued to spin around, looking for any sign of her I could find. Finally, as I turned once more to face the ledge, she appeared before me. The real her, silhouetted by the still waxing moonlight and highlighted by her standard golden eyes. She slowly moved a hand to her head, then touched the black silk bow around her hidden Faunus ears. She tugged lightly, freeing her body from the ribbon, and letting it trickle down to the ground without a sound. In the same movement, she strode towards me, at a glacial pace, on foot in front of the other.

"Everything is right in front of you, nothing hidden. But, this changes nothing. I still kill without feeling anything, I still can't be just like everyone else, I still won't ever be human! I'll always just be another monster that doesn't deserve love! I never have deserved it, and I never will, and no one will ever be willing to love me, and you know why?! Because no one can love a cold blooded killer, Rika."

As she continued, her pace increased, beginning to close the distance between her and I.

"I live in the darkness, I run from everything, Hell, even my semblance, the physical representation of who I am, is nothing but a shadow! It simply isn't possible for me to live in the light, I'll always just be another denizen of darkness… Light won't ever find-"

Her voice was shaking with downtrodden grief, dripping with loath and melancholic sorrow. I had to get her to come to her senses. She was within grabbing distance now, and I took the chance I had to stop her madness before it got any worse.

I pulled her by the shoulders directly in front of me, not more than a few inches away, and turned her head up to meet my gaze. I stared straight into her piercing spheres for a moment.

"Shut up, Blake." I whispered. Then, I closed my eyes and brought my lips down to hers.

Feeling the soft, wet embrace of the lips I knew were on the receiving end, I opened my eyes to meet Blake's shocked mug. I smiled slightly as I continued to kiss her, closing my eyes again, enveloping Blake in a thick, but gentle embrace , pressing myself against her. She didn't try to break free, didn't resist me at all, but simply went with it, accepting my version of a sensual bear hug, not daring to speak and ruin the moment.

This… This was my true first kiss. This moment, this complete bliss, this utter ignorance of everything but the person in front of you, wrapped around you and entwined for all (or none) to see… This is what my first true kiss was like. I had no idea it would be something like this, but after that, I could finally understand what all the fuss was about. It wasn't a physical reaction, like other things, but more like a mental depressant, blurring out some things, and leaving you with that sense of sinful euphoria. What I felt in that moment, would never leave my memory, not if I could help it.

Finally, when i felt the time was right, I broke the kiss, and opened my eyes slowly to meet hers. She looked up at me, expectant of something else, maybe, some kind of follow up.

"Blake… Having a dark side does not mean you are inherently evil. No, we all have one of those, but it just depends on where that darkness lives inside you that determines who you are. And, as far as being a monster goes, you decide that by yourself. Only you can tell you what you are and what you aren't. But,remember this; You aren't allowed to say that you don't deserve someone else's love. They get to decide if they love you or not, that choice doesn't belong to you. So, now I'm going to answer your question. _If_, and only if, your plan had gone the way you wanted it to, I would have still kissed you… But I do think the moment wouldn't have been as touching with a dead body on the other end…"

She looked into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, her gaze seeming to unlock as we stared, she donned an expression like the deepest secrets of the universe had been revealed to her. It was the most beautiful thing, her eyes. Somehow, they looked as if a great burden had been lifted from them, like the edge had been erased from her look, like her mind had been put at ease. Whether or not it was the truth was not for me to inquire, but I took solace in knowing that my words seemed to calm her from this state of raging angst she was enthralled in.

"Rika… Thank you."

She brought her own arms around me, and nuzzled herself into my abdomen, returning my embrace. It had never really occurred to me that people in remnant were so short, besides someone like Ozpin or Yatsuhashi, nearly everyone in my daily life was shorter than me. Blake of course was taller than others, but even she only sat just at my chest.

I relished this moment of calm, closing my eyes and focusing instead on everything else. I felt Blake's soft ears against my chin, her gentle yet firm clutch along my back. I listened to the calm stutters of the wind, the inherent quiet of the night, and once again felt the chill of the weather against every uncovered part of my body. I didn't care about any of that, all I cared about was the calm soul standing in front of me, the one who had saved my life.

My Aura had calmed considerably by now. I was starting to get the hang of calming it by myself, as time went on, but usually it wasn't until I was completely cooled down that my Aura wasn't so volatile. I'm sure Blake's grasp on me certainly aided this as well.

After a while, I didn't really know what to do. We had simply been standing there for a long time, but I was starting to shiver, even while hugging Blake, but she wasn't saying anything, so I didn't feel it was really appropriate for me to break it off. Eventually, after what felt like at least twenty minutes, I tried whispering to her.

"Uh… Blake?"

"Yeah?"

"Uhm… It's starting to get a little bit cold up here…"

"Oh! Dear Oum, I'm so sorry! Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

She hastily jumped away from me, holding her arms in the air next to her, blushing heavily.

"No, I couldn't You, uh…. Seemed to be enjoying yourself, and I didn't want to ruin it for you."

Her blush intensified, and she began to nervously move herself in various stretches, one of her only nervous ticks, that she rarely exhibited, from what I was told.

"Uhhmh... Sorry… About that….Anyways, you should get back to your room now, it's really late and all… And, about, you know, earlier… I'm sorry… I got a bit carried away…"

"Blake, no apologies, not this time. There will be a day you can say sorry to me, but that day isn't here, not yet. Unless you make me cry, or I am actively standing here, spewing curses at you for something, you don't have to apologize."

"O-Okay then. So, uh, do you need any help getting back to your room?"

"No, I'll be fine. I need a bit of a workout anyways, I'm too weak to do much of anything at this school, so I'll just think of this as training. I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Right… Goodnight, Rika."

"Goodnight, Blake."

Taking one last look at her, donning a gentle smile, I threw the rope over the edge, watching it smack into the cement next to my window, and began my descent. As Blake left my sight, blocked by the ledge, she was sitting down on a vent, looking up to the moon, closing her eyes blissfully. I was certain I saw tears rolling down her cheeks, but I didn't want to dwell on the sadness of the evening any longer, I was was already mentally exhausted and wanted to go back to bed after this whole ordeal.

The wind picked up considerably as I reached my window, making the warm embrace of the room all the more comforting. The climb down had exhausted my already sick muscles, and I was almost too weak to get back into bed. My Aura had taken the brunt of the work, it seemed. My pale skin was once again visible, unshielded by my over-reactive Aura, and I took the time to smooth out my hair, now a disheveled mess, before sinking back into bed. When i was fairly situated in bed, I remembered to hook my monitors back up to my arms and chest, ensuring that I wouldn't be chastised for leaving the room in the morning. Although my Aura still found it appropriate to function its usual demonic manner, I found it quite annoying that it didn't feel the need to help heal my bullet gashes at all, although I had no idea what this poison exactly did, and hadn't bothered to ask anyone about it either.

I mecha-shifted my scroll back onto my wrist, taking it off the table before I took the needle of my IV bag and placed it back inside my vein. As I winced in slight pain, it suddenly struck me how imaginary everything had felt up until now. Despite nearly being killed multiple times, and all of the injury, scarring, and internal bleeding that came with it, I still didn't quite feel as if everything around me was real, like somehow I was making everything up, and that any moment I would be knocked out of this reality and placed back into my own.

Somehow, I felt that change as I stood on the roof with Blake in my arms, both of us shaking against the cold air and frigid fears in our hearts. Maybe it was the bitter winter, or the sudden shocks of the last day, or even the slightest pricks of the needle against my arms, but somehow everything felt so much more touchable, so much more conducive to my perception of the world.

It felt… Like everything was as it truly was, for the first time in forever. I felt like I was home, even in the slightest bit. I felt comfortable and real being alive.

As I closed my eyes for what I hoped would be a restful sleep, I felt myself smiling, oddly enough, at one simple fact I had forgotten until this moment.

I had class with everyone tomorrow.

* * *

_**Anyone else hyped for Season 3? I sure am! Next chapter will be up around the middle of November, hopefully sooner if I can pull myself together. It's been a crazy season, but now I should be free for more writing. **_

_**As always, cheers mates, and see you all soon :)**_


	15. Chapter 14

"No, no, no! You have it all wrong, you oaf! Start over, and try to put some focus into it this time, alright?"

Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting when I thought of Weiss being my teacher. Maybe I figured she was somehow different with others when she was educating them, but this experience was shoving my expectations into a volcanic crater to shrivel up and burn.

"Weiss, I _am focusing,_ its just a little bit hard to get this right with you breathing down my neck and shouting insults at me every time I fuck it up!"

"Well, someone has to, otherwise you might as well be in the middle of a battle as a placebo, nothing more. Unless you can master this basic element of Aura manipulation, I refuse to advance to anything else more advanced. It is as simple as that. Now then, again, if you would."

"Ugh, alright, if I must."

I closed my eyes again, dimming as many senses as I could while focusing my thought on a mental picture of my body. I imagined a pool of Aura starting at my feet, then slowly snaking its way across my legs, then up to my hips, and across my stomach…

"No, start over, your field was weak. You aren't focusing at all, are you?"

"Weiss, what do you want from me? I'm a commoner, in case you haven't noticed, I wasn't schooled in how to make such petty things seem graceful and effortless like yourself, so forgive me if I find your presence a little bit… intimidating to consider. I honestly don't think there is anything else I can do right now to help this go along."

"Ugh, fine then. Take a break, if you must. We'll pick this up again after you've calmed yourself, or whatever it is you think you need to do."

"Fine by me."

Weiss walked off towards the window, where she looked out at the knoll laid out in front of our dorm. It had been almost a week since that night from Hell, but Weiss had taken the whole thing a little bit _too_ calmly. She had barely spoken to any of us, for starters, and hardly gave me any kind of indication that we were training that day. That night hit her harder than she was letting on, but I didn't really know how to come out to her and start asking what the hell was wrong with her. I didn't really feel like it was my place, either. Whatever had happened in her past to make her react so violently to whatever it was Blake did to Winfield was her own business, none of mine… At least for the time being. A day would come when I could ask her these kinds of questions, but not then, not there.

I leaned back onto the floor, stretching myself out as far as I could, twisting myself into painful positions to stretch out all of my joints, and then simply laid there, tail draped under my neck, breathing lightly, eyes closed. I let my mind go blank, not letting a single thought peruse my mind, just letting the darkness of my inner eyelids consume my focus.

I felt something just above my face, and opened my eyes slightly, to see a sheet of white cover my vision. I opened them all of the way, and was greeted with one of the most heavenly sights I had ever beheld.

I was fairly sure I felt a drop of blood go down my nose as I engrained in memory a perfect view of Weiss' panties, stretched just inches over my face as she straddled me, looking at my feet for some reason.

"Hmm… Didn't know silk was still in style."

Next came a furious impact on my temple. I could feel my body jerk to the left, and spiral out on the rug until i came to a stop next to the bathroom. I looked over at Weiss, who was huddled in the corner next to the closet, pulling her dress down over her knees, glaring at me with a look of half hatred and half embarrassment.

"_**YOU FUCKING PERVERT! I WILL DESTROY YOU!"**_

"Woah, woah, woah there! _Not my fault, okay?! _I had my eyes closed, and-"

"_**AND YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT THEM THAT WAY! YOU SHOULD HAVE..."**_

Weiss looked down at the floor, voice growing weaker by the millisecond.

"Should… Should have… Just…"

"Uhhh… Weiss, are you… Okay?"

"Should… Have…. _**BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAH!"**_

Instead of offering my any kind of coherent explanation, she simply started to bawl like a baby, blubbering sentences in between gasps of air and sniffles.

"NOW (sniff), I CAN'T BE A FAIR MAIDEN ANYMOOOOOOOOOOREEEEE!"

"Pardon?"

"(sniff) I'M WORTHLESS TO NEPTUNE NOOOOOWWWWWW… I'VE BEEN DEFILEEEEEEEDD."

"Uuuuhhh… Weiss, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like tha-"

"_**SILENCE, DEFILER! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF MY PAIN! HOW COULD YOOOOOUUUUUU?!"**_

"You mean besides the fact that I'm still mentally a man, and you pretty much gave me a free show I couldn't resist, well…. Not much to say, really. Sorry you have nice underwear choice?"

I had to dodge an incoming projectile after that one. Where my head once resided, Myrtenaster stuck out of the wall, skillfully aimed at about the same level as my right eye. The last thing I needed was another scar on my face. I had to keep being pretty somehow.

Weiss turned away from me, instead seeking some kind of solace in the pain on the molding of the floor, weeping uncontrollably.

"Hey, uh, Weiss, quick question here… Why is it that you're so worried about being, well… 'Pure'?"

"Unlike you peasants, a Schnee is taught to keep herself proud and pure for as long as she can. Only afterl she finds (sniff) _the one_ can she even think about such things. Even then, I have to show him to Father, and get his approval as well. Going against a tradition such as that is taboo."

"Ah, yes, Father dictates your every move, I had forgotten that fun fact about the Schnees."

I looked at Myrtenaster, and removed it from the wall. I cautiously approached Weiss with it, and placed it on the bed across from her. Then, risking a prompt scalping at her hands, I sat down next to her, turning myself to face her in the corner.

"Sooo... Neptune, eh?"

"What, going to mock my love interest now, are you?"

"Ah, so he _is_ a love interest then? My, oh my, poor Neptune sure is in quite a ride, ain't he?"

"I… wouldn't say so."

"Oh? I thought he was you 'love interest', what happened? Have a fight before the first date? C'mon, you've got prime insight into a man's mind right here, use it! Lemme take a swing into your love issues, I'm sure I can help somehow, repayment for your purity, maybe?"

"I don't trust you. Swear you won't disparage me for whatever I say. Swear it!"

Raising my arm, I saluted her. "I solemnly swear, madam, to offer my services in an earnest and non-judgemental manner. As a professor of this academy, I vow to you. Now then, what be yer troubles, Miss?"

She brought her head up slowly from her knees, and turned her head even more slowly towards me. Then, taking a deep breath, and blushing, she looked me straight in the eyes. It was the first time I had seen them clearly, as a matter of fact. They shone with a certain wise sheen, edged with just a touch of uneasiness, and in the middle, pure fear radiated from her deep, crystal irises.

"I think I love you, Rika."

"...Eh?"

* * *

"Hey, you said no judgement!"

"No, no it's not judgement, more like… Shock? I mean, are you _sure _ you love me? Like, 100% Love me?"

"What I said was true. Ever since you first came here, I… felt something different, something I'd never felt before with anyone I had ever met in my life. That first moment I looked into your eyes, when you laid in this room, strewn about like a discarded fruit peel, looking like you had been tortured for weeks on end, something clicked. I wasn't' really sure what to call what I felt for a long time… And then, I decided to ask Ruby about it. Ultimately, she drew Love out of the description."

"I-if I may ask, well… I guess, what exactly do I make you feel? God this sounds so awkward…"

She looked perplexed, as if calculating the quintagonal Motion Parallax of one of her runes, as if this was truly a difficult thing for her.

"I am not quite sure exactly how to put my feelings into words, I haven't been acquainted with them, or you for that matter, for very long, but all I know is that whenever you are around, my mind seems to lack its usual edge, and my heartbeat skyrockets. My palms sweat, and it takes all of the willpower I have to pretend nothing is wrong. I might seem cool and collected, but underneath the surface I'm an emotional nightmare waiting to collapse!"

"Well… Where does Neptune fit into all of this, then?"

"No, that's just the thing, I'm not even sure if I can stand to be in Neptune's presence, let alone like him, but he was the first man to grace my presence that has seemed even close to presentable to Father! If I brought you into his home, I can barely stomach the thought of the tantrum he would throw when he saw the ears and the tail…"

"R-right… I always seem to forget your family has a problem with fluffiness…"

"It's not like I totally agree with them, I mean sure, the White Fang can go rot in Hell for all I care, but that doesn't mean all Faunus are inherently criminals either. I've figured out that much for myself. Don't think of it as a personal thing, think of it more as as 'me being able to live' sort of thing. I'm not even sure he would approve of me bringing home a Human woman, let alone a Faunus woman. It's all just so ridiculously complex, and I'm not quite sure what to do with all of this. I've never been in such a situation before, and I am not at all sure what to do next."

"Weiss… This is all going so quickly, just how long have you been stewing on this? I mean, I don't even know where to begin on any of it…"

"Ignore my feelings for right now, what do you think should be done?"

"Now, see, that right there is the problem. You seem to be completely ignoring your own feelings for the sake of your Father, and that is in no way healthy. Being new to relationships is alright as well, there is always a growing period in these sorts of things, so nothing you do right now has to be serious to the point of meeting your father, or anything like that. For all your Father knows, you could have a gay lover at this very second, and he would be none the wiser, because he is not here, and we are. So, in that regard, I think that if you don't really like Neptune, then you should not lead him on, that will only upset him later down the line. As for your… family situation, just don't tell them anything about your love life. You are here to become a Huntress first, so everything else should come second. Now, if that actually happens or not is your own decision, but it gives you a little bit of leeway with who you go out with. Like women? Go ahead, try it out. Nothing ever has to be set in stone until you want it to be. Don't be afraid to be yourself, otherwise you will live to regret it and then end up unhappily married to some schmuck who you at best neutral towards."

After my rant, I looked over to Weiss, who had tilted her head, and was staring straight at me with a mistified look on her face.

"Did I make _any_ kind of sense with that?"

"I-I think I've figured it out now. That, right there, was the reason I feel the way I do. You, sitting here, going off into your own world, spewing life advice and making reality feel as though it doesn't matter. When I look at you, I know what my heart feels; It feels safe. I… have never felt safe my entire life, even with the world's best security guarding my every move, I never felt safe. But, just listening to you talk, not even thinking about whether or not it was correct or not, I felt more at ease than in a reinforced train car. You show up, and sit here, talking as if you've lived for an eternity, spouting wise nonsense and trying to make everything better… It makes me feel as though I don't have to worry about anything, like you care about what happens to me. Does _that _make sense, Rika?"

I nodded. "Yes, absolutely. Everyone deserves to feel safe, Weiss. It's a shame you had to wait until now to feel that way even once, and I'm sorry for that. But… I think you've gone too long without feeling that way. From now on, just ask me anything, and I'll do my best to help you, I promise. I don't know whether not I will always be able to help you, but… If I can just make you feel comfortable in your own skin, then I want to do it. Will you let me? Will you let me care about what happens to you?"

Weiss stared me straight in the eyes for a couple of seconds, not saying anything. Then, suddenly, she began to shake with laughter, until she burst out, rolling on the floor.

Needless to say, I took her meaning quite clearly.

"I-I see then. I;m sorry I made myself look like a fool again. I'm sorry I tried to interject myself in your business, let's just get back to training already, I think I'm ready to start again."

I stood up quickly, making for the center of the room, until a large glyph appeared before me, myself ramming face first into it, and then having it shove me back towards Weiss, and then knocking me off my feet, so I laid out in front of Weiss.

"Don't act all sour now, Rika, I'm not laughing at you because of that! I'm laughing because you know absolutely nothing about me, or my life, or even my simple interests, but here you are, saying you want to help me overcome one of my most personal crises without hesitation."

Weiss composed herself, and I took the opportunity to seat myself in my original position, feeling a little bit self conscious but mostly okay.

"Why is it that you are so trusting of me, when you have absolutely no obligation to?"

"Its called being a good person, Ice Queen. I was taught that if a friend was in trouble, you help them, no matter how difficult their struggles. Also… I kind of owe you one for the panty shot."

"Fail to cleanse your mind of that image and I will skin you like a chicken."

"I get it, I get it. By the way, why were you… On top of me like that?"

"Don't make it sound so lewd, you perv! I was examining your legs, if you must know. They were conducting Aura perfectly through your lower body, just as I had _tried_ to teach you for the last hour. It seemed, after all, that you really did need a break."

"See? I told you I know myself. I was too uptight, I couldn't focus properly."

"Well, now that this is all said and done with, would you care to continue on, then?"

I stood up, and stretched once more. "Might as well, It'll be time for lunch soon enough, and Yang will come back and ruin the quiet for us. But, before we do, I have to ask you something."

"What is it now?"

"What are we going to do about… Well, you know…"

"No, I don't. Enlighten me, if you would be so kind."

"You said that you loved me. Are we going to do anything about that?"

Weiss paused, and took a deep breath. Then, she walked toward me, and took a firm hold on my right hand, lifting it up into the air in front of my chest, and placing another her other hand on top of it.

"No, we aren't. I might love you at a glance, and be swayed by your words, but to me, that isn't enough to be in a relationship with you. I still have no idea what kind of person you really are, Rika. Until I do, I don't think a relationship would be wise, not to mention a certain rule of the Academy preventing fraternization between professors and students…"

"Oh, right…"

"However, I _will_ keep you in mind until I've made up my mind, little wolf."

She let go of my hand, and returned to her position next to the window, facing me.

"Alright, back to work. Before lunch, you will be moving your Aura around your body at the speed of sound, mark my words!"

I walked back to my spot in the middle of the room, and took my meditative position again.

"I be it will."

* * *

"Come now, trombones, play with some heart! Use more air, straighten your posture, give your playing some purpose! The Atlesians aren't too fond of weakness, and I'll be damned if they see any in this ensemble. Now, again please, from 206."

I lifted my baton, and put the melody in motion once again. The beat was steady, but not entirely quick, but this section was predominantly low brass, and the trombones continued to give me huff. Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture was a bitch and a half to keep controlled, given is erratic composition, and our general lack of string players would place a heavier emphasis on the winds. I was certain we were going to have to hold off on the cannons as well, but somehow Ozpin had some antiques locked up in the cellar of the arms building, and was willing to lend them to us for practice.

"Yes, good, keep going like that, keep the power flowing, it's all on you right now, Trombones, make it your time to shine!"

The piece was at its climax, the main event. Low brass controlled the melody, and needed to command an overwhelming amount of power to be heard among the comparative chaos.

"Yes, good keep go- _Nej, _cut, cut , CUT TROMBONES, CUT DAMNIT."

The band haphazardly stopped and look up, slightly confused.

"I heard an A sharp in there, Jaune, you know A is natural in that measure, come on man, get it together! Ladies and Gentleman, this class is entirely unlike any other class at Beacon you will ever take. Other classes, if you make an error, it is simply points off of your grade, but you still can easily obtain an A for the class. Here, it is much different. A single error during a performance completely ruins everything, and if this were another class, then you would still have an A. Not here. No, here, an error equates to failure, no matter what. That is why, unless you all take this into your dorms and _practice like I told you to_, you will all fail in front of your colleagues and in front of the single most powerful board of people in the world."

I let that sink in, my voice slapshotting across the hall, everyone not wanting to look me in the eye.

"Class dismissed. Jazz Ensemble trainees, remain here, I want to talk about our song choice for the performance."

At my cue, many of the band took haste in deconstructing their instruments. When the majority of the band was dispersed, I was left with about twenty people.

"Now then, I sent out a notice to all of you because I think you all have the ability to partake in this ensemble. This will be extracurricular, and take up a good hour daily of your free time not already taken by duels or homework. I want everyone to know this before we begin. If you do not think you can participate, please leave now, I have no room for abandonment."

Not a single soul moved from my presence.

"Excellent. Now then, I will be informing you all of your assigned instruments. The list was mailed directly to your account earlier on, check it after this. I have put in the orders for construction of the Reeds, as a large portion of them are extremely rare or nonexistent in the present time, but those of you who play a reed instrument have informed me you are up to the challenge of their operation, correct?"

"Yes."

"But of course."

"Righto, I can do it."

"Alright then. I will inform you when the Arms department has completed your instruments. I will have your accessories completed by then as well. Now, on to song choice. I have concluded that there will be two songs we perform at this concert, both of which lasting about nine minutes, and involving several soloists. Blake…"

I laid out my arm in front of her, indicating to her.

"Will be the primary soloist of the first song. I have been giving her private lessons, and I believe she is ready for this. Weiss, on the other hand.."

I indicated to her in a similar way.

"Will be the primary soloist of the second piece. She has concluded with me that she can handle at least that much. Other solos will be indicated on the pieces when I am finished transcribing them. I will say this as well; Jazz is unlike any musical form in the planet. It will take getting used to, so I do not expect any of you to be completely comfortable with it. However, by the time we are expected to perform, I will expect nothing less than absolute perfection out of this group. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Professor!" replied the class in unison.

"Good, dismissed, all of you now. Inform your professors of your excuses for lateness, I will send out passes to them later on this evening. Have a good day, all."

With the rest of the group leaving, I went behind the curtain as usual to change into my uniform, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me before I could go behind it all of the way.

"Rika, about my instrument…"

"What about it, Weiss? Also, is it alright if I change while we talk, I don't want to be late to Port's class."

"Go ahead. Anyways, about my instrument. You have yet to tell me exactly what it is, or even what it looks like. I want to know what it is that I am dealing with. I don't even know what this 'Saxophone' is."

"You've seen my instrument, the large Brass construct, correct?"

"The contraption of yours that spouts that infernal honking? Yes, I have."

"Yours will be in that instrument family, along with Blake and Belmont. However, yours will be markedly different from the rest. The neck will loop around, whereas mine only curves at the top. Also, the weight will be vastly greater, as well as the size and amount of air needed to produce sound. You will easily possess one of the most powerful instruments in the ensemble."

"What do you call it? I don't even know what its name is."

I pulled the curtain aside, looking her direction with a wide smile on my face.

"The Baritone Saxophone. And you, Weiss, will be the commanding face of a classic by a man known as Charles Mingus. A total of approximately one hundred to one hundred fifty bars of solos, all dedicated to such an instrument."

"And why is it that you're having me play such a dreadful thing?"

"Because I don't trust anyone else to learn it in time. I know for a fact that you are up to it, so that is why I'm giving this to you. Any other questions?"

"Yes, one more. I am fairly familiar with instrumentation, and if I am correct, you are going for an equal fours setup, correct? If so, then we are short a player."

"No, we aren't short at all."

"Unless some vicissitude of fate has gone against me, I added up every player we have here, and we are short one reed player."

"Ah, that is my secret, dear Weiss. I'll be playing alongside you all during the concert."

Weiss paused and looked at me like I was crazy. The bell rang soon after, and we both began to walk out, Weiss still concluding I was mad.

"How on Remnant are we going to pull that off?"

"Simple. We're going to practice like clockwork, so that the rhythm is ingrained our muscles. What better way to impress the Atlesians than a band that doesn't need a conductor?"

"I swear, you are becoming more and more like the Headmaster every single day."

"I wouldn't mind it, the man might be selectively aloof and periodically insane, but he knows people better than anyone else."

"Somehow I see you becoming his phantom in twenty years. You two are so similar it scares me sometimes."

I simply shrugged in response. Honestly, being like Opzin would be kind of fun. Knowing what every single person around me happened to be thinking and always having an answer would be an impressive ability to wield.

Before I knew it, Weiss was far ahead of me, leaving my day-dreaming behind in the dust. She turned around and yelled in my direction.

"Come on, already! Did you forget we have an exam for Port today? I refuse to be late because you were busy contemplating your likeness to Ozpin!"

"Oh… SHIT! I DIDN'T STUDY! WEISS, HELP ME!"

* * *

"Now then, students. That examination will serve as an excellent segue into today's lesson. The previous unit regarded Macro-Grimm, those with size super ceeding that of a Human or Faunus. One such Grimm has been sighted about one hundred kilometers into Forever Fall forest, just beyond the bounds of a frontier heliport."

Port stood behind the class, using a kiosk to control the class' projector screen, which was currently beaming in image of a map of Forever Fall.

"A team of Atlesian scouts first discovered the beast while on patrol, and called for reinforcements to neutralize it. This is the footage that followed said reinforcements' arrivals."

Port switched to another feed, showing a surprisingly clear video reel from what reminded me of a soldier's Go-Pro.

"_Battle Logs, entry number seven two oh eight, Commander Spiegel reporting. _

_Sightings of Macro-classed Grimm have resulted in reinforced garrisons here. _

_Current forces number fifty foot soldiers, ten Bullheads, and one mechanized unit. _

_Grimm encountered so far has been zero, with only remains and exoskeletons having been found. We believe this to be a Arachnid family infestation, and are taking the appropriate measures for their removal. _

_I am now ordering the men to move into the glen in which the infestation is believed to be present._

_Alright boys, lock and load, we're movin' in, let's give these sons of bitches one for, eh? Standard formations, keep constant radio comms, I want details on __everything_ _you find out there."_

The footage rolled on, with numerous clips of military static coming through every few seconds. The commander we were watching moved away from the base camp of the first few minutes and joined his men in the nearby forest. We were all silent as he marched with them for about ten minutes, and then ordered them to halt randomly. Even as I strained my ears I couldn't hear anything coming from the audio, and everything seemed pretty normal in the video, except…

"_Bryants… BRYANTS, STAND UP, DAMNIT!_

_We have a man down, I repeat, man down, we need medevac ASAP, get a Bullhead on my coords, NOW._

_Hang in there, Corporal, you're gonna be just fine- WE NEED A MEDIC OVER HERE, GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR WE HAVE A MAN DYING FOR OUM'S SAKE!"_

The camera wobbled as he ran towards the supposedly wounded man, and when he kneeled down in front of him, I could see what looked like a barb stuck in the man's back. He was laying down in the ground, face first, not moving, and when his face mask was removed, his skin was quickly paling, almost as pale as Weiss, and was foaming at the mouth. He was convulsing as if he had a seizure, and the barb in his back was… dissolving.

"_Damnit, we've got Arachni in the vicinity._

_Form a tight defensive perimeter until the Bull shows up, I want no one leaving, no one moves an inch, keep your eyes peeled for shrouded barbs, we've already lost one man to them, and I refuse to lose any more! _

_Attention all troops, Arachni have been confirmed as present in the AO_

_One man has been downed due to shrouded Barbs, the venomous sort, keep a tight watch for them_

_The presence of any Macros has still been unconfirmed, but if the micros are near, they won't be far behind._

_Base Camp, this is Apollo Three, come in Base Camp..._

_Base Camp, this is Apollo Three, come in Base Camp..._

_Base Camp if you are there, answer now, Damnit!_

_BASE CAMP…._

_All units, this is Apollo Three, Base Camp is unresponsive, check radios and report in."_

A slight pause went by before any other teams reported in. Only one did…

"_Apollo Three this is Zeus Seven,_

_All fire teams have been unresponsive to radio comms, Base Camp Included, how copy?"_

"_Zeus this is Apollo Three, copy on lack of radio, all other teams have cut their radios, and there has been a lack of comms from Base Camp, requesting immediate extraction , we have a wounded soldier."_

"_Copy, Apollo Three, Zeus Seven inbound to your location, hang tight."_

"_Men, get Bryants ready for evac, Bullhead is coming in hot, be ready._

_Rest of you, form up on me, we need to ensure that Bull makes it out in one piece. _

_Jostens, Raegan, Djokovic, on the Bull with Bryants, make it back to Base Camp, see what the hell is going on with the rad-"_

"_CONTACT, TWELVE O'CLOCK, WE'VE GOT MICROS"_

"_Shit, OPEN FIRE, do not let a single one reach us! Watch those stingers, look for projectile attacks!"_

The scene became a product of pure battlefield chaos. The camera shook violently, and what I managed to gather was that things resembling upright spiders swarmed out from the treeline, almost in packs, but were mostly dispatched by controlled shots from the soldiers. A few men were lunged at, but no one had died yet. It seemed like a pretty textbook battle, one favouring the Atlesians. But then, things changed…

"_There's too many! _

_Holy shit… I gotta reload, cover me!_

_I'm out, relo- AUGHGUHHGHG_

_We're being overrun, fall back!_

_FALL BACK, FALL BACK TO THE LZ!"_

The soldiers turned and ran from the mass of black claws that was chasing after them. Their numbers had increased so quickly, it was like something had suddenly galvanized their attack.

"_Apollo Three, this is Zeus Seven, get to cover, I'm coming in hot!"_

The Bullhead arrived, and a gunner on the side of the craft manned a minigun, raining a hail of bullets down upon the Arachni. When the dust cleared, none remained, and the soldiers came out from their cover.

"_Apollo Three, this is Zeus Seven, perimeter is clear. _

_Roger, Zeus. Flight crew, board the Bull and head back to Base._

_The rest, on me, we're just getting star-"_

A screech unlike anything I had ever heard assaulted my eardrums, making me wince in pain. On the screen, the shaking had stopped slightly, and I could see some large protuberance coming out of the now destroyed Bullhead. Then, the screech came again, this time much higher in pitch and much louder.

"_Bloody Hell…_

_REGALIS!_

_RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"_

Just like that, any and all sense of order was abolished, and command fell apart. The screen showed the commander running of into the tree line for a few seconds, until something grabbed him from behind and pulled him back, and into the air, at a horizontal angle. Then, in mid air, he suddenly stopped, and issued out a gurgling noise. It was the same noise we heard from the Corporal, Bryants, earlier on.

The camera tilted slowly down after a few moments, and when it did , we were greeted with a large barb protruding from the armor on the Commander's body.

"_Call… The Hunters…"_

This was the last thing that was heard, before the camera detached from the Commander's face, and fell to the ground. Upon impact, the feet cut, and the video ended.

"That, students, was where the footage ended. Does anyone have the faintest idea of what it was that ended the life of this man? Yes, Miss Schnee?"

"The Macro-Class of the Arachnid family- Arachni Regalis."

"Yes, correct, Miss Schnee."

He pulled up a large scale diagram of such a beast onto the screen. The thing resembled a spider as tall as a building, with an upright torso, clawed hands, and several sets of eyes, as well as a dripping maw.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Regalis. The average height is anywhere from thirty to one hundred feet, with enough power to crush a Bullhead into scrap metal. Now, does anyone know why it is that the beast was able to hide itself from those men, as well as the scanners aboard the Bullhead?"

"The Regalis is one of the few Grimm that can hide itself in its surroundings. It will not show up on any kind of imaging technology unless it wants to be seen."

"Correct again, Miss Schnee. Yes, this best is very adapt at thermochromic shielding, enabling it perfect stealth. Now, for the more pressing question; What branch of venom enables this creature to perfectly incapacitate its foes as we have seen here. How about… Miss Clarence?"

"Uhm… Neurotoxin, sir?"

"Yes, correct Miss Clarence. Neurotoxins coat the Regalis' stingers and claws, ensuring that all intra-body contact with the demon will sever ties with the central nervous system, paralyzing the target. But, unlike most other creatures using this technique to hunt, there is a vast distinction. Paralysis as a result of Regalis venom… is permanent. There is no known antivenin, and the victims, if they survive the encounter, will be permanently paralyzed, with no hope of speech, movement of any kind, really. It is for this reason that such high alerts are given for sightings of such a beast. Their presence in a region invokes high amounts of fear in a populace, and in turn are prone to even more grimm attacks."

I raised my hand then, curious as to something the commander had whispered before he died.

"Yes, Miss Clarence, a question?"

"Before the video cut… The commander, he said, 'Call the Hunters…', is that implying that there is a Hunter unit currently engaging this thing?"

"Ah, yes, I had a feeling someone would inquire about this. To my knowledge, no team has been dispatched to deal with this threat. The Atlesian army has been given permission by the forces of Vale to operate in the region, so they will most likely be able to handle situation. Hunters will most likely not be needed in this situation, I fear. I do admit, it would be _quite_ a show if a team was asked to deal with this Grimm."

I leaned over to Ruby, who was slightly asleep next to me, and whispered to her.

"Somehow I find it hard to believe that a few mechs and some guns can take down that thing."

"(Yawn)... Don't doubt Atlas so much, Rika… They'll be fiiiine, they've dealt with worse before."

"I can only hope…."

"Now then, class is almost over. For tomorrow, read the final chapter of your Introduction to Grimm Physiology books, and fill out the final section of review questions. Tomorrow, you shall receive the next book in the series, and continue on from there. Dismissed."

I remained for a few seconds while everyone flocked to get moving to the final class before lunch. I found it hard to believe any kind of normal war technique could hunt such a perfect predator like that. It all just seemed…

"... Fake, all of it. No way in _Hell_ they would let a Regalis be handled by the Atlesian army like that. No, only hunters can take that thing down."

Weiss stood behind me, peering into my gaze, then turning back towards the front of the room, like in a sort of meditative trance.

"But… Port already said that there weren't any hunters dispatched to kill it.?"

"I am well aware of what he said, you dunce. What we lack is the classified information regarding the mission's success. If the thing was already dead, they would come right out and say it. But, they haven't, which can only mean…"

"That they failed. It took down the hunters and is still at large."

She nodded slowly, and turned towards the door.

"One thing you never get used to in this life, Rika, is being fed all of the Bullshit they use to keep people away from mass Hysteria. You know perfectly well that people die every day, and Grimm are always on the verge of destroying civilization, but no one ever talks about it. If they did, we would all drown in our sorrow, and damn ourselves."

"Jesus, then what the hell do people do with themselves?"

"They do what we are doing; they take all of that pent up anguish and focus it back at the source. Grimm attack a village, a child gets scarred because of it, and then spends the rest of his childhood training to avenge his family as a hunter, then channels all of those years of hatred against the beings that started it all. It is a very gruesome cycle, but one that ultimately saves mankind, as a whole."

"And what is it that triggered this wonderful little discourse, Weissy?"

"I would rather not have to share my living space with the ignorant, so take it as some packaged enlightenment. I'm going to lunch."

She left without another word, bearing the same brooding look she had wore the entire class. Whatever her motive was, it really put everything into perspective. I mean, I thought FOX News was bad, but it seemed people on Remnant were even worse when it came to information control.

Despite all of that, I could see the necessity to control information like that. There's no need to induce unnecessary negative feelings in people, keeps them safer in the end.

Tired of thinking in general, I grabbed my bag and ran after my team out the door. It was lunch, and I needed some food to counteract this slightly depressing morning. Before I could open the door, however, I was pulled back by something towards my desk, and I fell backwards onto its surface.

"Oi, what the Hell is wrong with-"

"Quiet. A little birdie told me that a bigger birdie told you just exactly who I am. Well, as you could tell, that isn't very good for me, so that is why you are going to come to the dueling pads tonight, alone."

I couldn't tell who it was that was holding me down, but I could recognize the voice enough to know that my fiery foe had decided to make a move on me. How she knew that Ozpin told me her story was beyond me, but now I had to deal with it, somehow.

"Oh yeah? And what if I don't?"

"A certain someone close to you has their single biggest secret exposed over the school's network. It would really be a shame, she work _so hard_ to get here, and I'd hate to see her kicked out all because of that one, silly little problem of hers."

Blake…

"No! Fine, you got it, I'll go. When?"

"Oh, whenever you feel like it, darling, just show up, or else…"

Before I could react, the hand on my shoulder let go, and I hard a large crack next to me. When I sat up, she was gone, and I was alone.

I heard footsteps in the hallway, and Port came running in through the side door.

"What the devil is going on in here? Miss Clarence, explain yourself! What was that noise?"

"Professor, I, I…. It was a weapon malfunction, my safety caught on my uniform, it won't happen again, I'll make sure Ruby puts a failsafe in, or something."

"Well, alright then, I'm simply glad no one was hurt, now get to class, on the double Miss!"

I simply "yessir"'d him, and waited for him to leave, before I slumped back into my seat, not caring about the bell, wondering if I was going to be assassinated that night, or simply tortured until I squealed like a Hog.

* * *

**_Hey, all, been a while, eh? Things are all going uphill from here, a lot more action, a lot more character development. With season 3 of RWBY on its way, I'll have a bit more to go off of in terms of canon plot ticks, so expect some up to date appearances. I have decided that I am not going to include the Vytal Festival in this story, and will be instead using the Atlesian concert as its substitute. Also, ships are remaining undecided for now, don't want to spoil anything for the future, just... Wait until the story is fully developed, you'll see in due time. _**

**_Peace ya'll, and cheers, as always._**

**_P.S, I actually enjoy it when people put comments on stories, unlike some people. It lets me know what I'm doing that is both good and bad, and it lets me know you guys want to see more, that you care. Don't be afraid to share your opinion, no matter what it is! Its always welcome here!_**


	16. Chapter 15

"Rika, are you _sure_ you're okay? I mean, you've been fidgeting with the rings of your binder for the last hour, and have barely dented your Grimm studies readings, you seem really… Well, off put by something."

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Dad kind of let me have it today in class, barely missed me with one of his legs when I couldn't tell him what the negative outcomes of a surge in profits were. I'm just a little bit pressed, is all. I haven't transcribed the music for the band all of the way yet, and the Arms department says they are going to be a few days late with the delivery of the Saxes. It's going to put unnecessary pressure on our time constraints, and I'm not sure if- Hey, what are you doing!?"

Yang had be in a headlock, and began pulling me away from the table where I sat, chair and all.

"Every now and then, we all get a little stressed out, but we all just need a bit of release to even things out. You feel me?"

"I can't… Feel… Anything… Yang…"

"Oh! Sorry…"

She released my head, and let me fall over from my chair onto the floor as I regained my breath. I very well couldn't tell her that I was more stressed about having to go meet Cinder tonight, so I had to go with the next best thing. It would take some tricky footwork to leave later on without Blake noticing, as well.

"Now then, I think it's time that you had a little bit of fun! I have just the thing for it."

Yang walked over to the closet, and went inside. I heard her rummaging about inside it for a while, breaking a few boxes in the process, but came out with what looked like a small bottle, dyed a dark amber color.

"Booze?"

"Nope, something even better. Eggnog, my own special recipe."

"You have Eggnog here? _HOLY SHIT GIVE ME SOME RIGHT NOW!"_

I sprinted over to her, snatched the bottle, and flopped down on the bed, tearing the label off of the neck, and attempting to pop the cork with my teeth.

"Whoa, there, eager beaver, settle down, this isn't your average everyday Eggnog! This is a special recipe, one Uncle Qrow only makes once a year, only two bottles to a batch. Has more kick to it than a whole bottle of bourbon does, but the flavor is beyond anything you have every had before, I can guarantee it!"

She nabbed the bottle from my mouth, leaving me slightly annoyed, but my tail kept its perpetual excitement going behind me, a sign of my eagerness. With a handy pop, she pulled out the cork with a practiced precision, and produced two small mugs from the nearby bathroom, filled each one about halfway, and then passed one to me.

"Cheers, you deserve it."

"Aye, time to find out what I've been missing!"

I dipped the mug upwards, slingshotting the liquid into my expectant maw, and felt the rush of the thick liquid envelop my mouth. She was right, it was a taste beyond anything I had ever experienced. The milk and the spice were perfectly blended, no one element overpowering the other, with a hint of Vanilla saturating the whole thing. The booze was overtly present, and incredibly strong. But, I didn't gag like I thought I would, but simply let the warmth spread down my throat, and penetrate my gut.

"So, how was it? Every bit like I said, or ten times better?! Rika?"

My head was spinning, my vision was quickly beginning to blur, and I felt like my body was a million tons heavier. Then, I felt myself hit the side of the bed, and everything went black.

I felt my eyelids getting lighter, although my head still felt like it was composed of molten lead. I couldn't produce words, only slight groans. After I tried to speak, I left hands on my neck, and some kind of mumbling net to me, the volume of which made my head hurt to no end.

The mumbling continued, quietly this time, allowing me some time to gather my senses. I focused each one of them in turn, trying my hardest to recover some sense of adequate operation. After what felt like a few minutes, I opened my eyes slightly, and saw the same mass of yellow hair that had gotten me into this predicament in the first place.

"Ughghg…. Yang… Why…"

"Oh, thank Oum, you're awake! I thought you had overdosed or something, thank Oum, I was really scared for a while!"

"Yang… what the actual fuck did you put into that Eggnog…"

"Yeah, heheh… Well, funny story, that Eggnog was kind off 140 proof, so... Suprise?"

"Jesus, Yang, pure fucking alcohol, ughghg, I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Well, now's the time to do it, we are in the bathroom."

It had just then occurred to me that I was draped face first over the toilet bowl, my hair tied back with an elastic cable, a blanket on my shoulders. It wasn't long before I felt the need to rid myself of the toxins Yang had fed me, and I sat on the bathroom floor convulsing as it happened.

"Easy now, just let it all out, eight ounces of pure booze will do that to you. Hell, if you didn't have an Aura, you'd probably be dead from intoxication right now. Lucky you, eh?"

I didn't have the stomach to answer her, instead I kept on sniffling and convulsing into the toilet, trying my best to keep hold of the single strand of dignity that I had left.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry it turned out like that, sometimes I forget that not everyone my age has a drinking tolerance the size of Vale, sooo… I owe you one."

"Repayment time, now. What time is it?"

"Eh? Oh, uhm, only about ten."

"Good, leave me be for about two hours, then come back. I want to shiver and be disgusted with myself in peace until then."

"Okay, I guess. I'll be right outside the door, if you need anything, okay? Just call me."

She stepped across the threshold, and closed the door in front of her, leaving me alone in the bleached bathroom, free to vomit and shake as much as I could for the next two hours.

Cinder could wait, for all I cared, I had to make sure I could even go out and not stumble over on the way to the courts first. All I could think as I feel asleep was Thank God that the courts were indoors.

I managed to pass out again after I felt that I wouldn't be doing any more throwing up. It seemed I was clean, and I took the opportunity to sleep off whatever it was that was left in my system. I also made a mental note never to take Yang's advice on stress relief.

I heard Weiss and Ruby come into the room through the door, and Yang explain the situation as best she could to them. Blake had yet to come back, despite it well being past regular instruction hours. I heard her voice about an hour after Weiss and Ruby returned, counting now four people that were there to see me in my extremely disgusting state when I emerged.

I lifted my head slowly out of the toilet, and attempted to stand, when I felt it was about time for me to get cleaned up. I shuffled toward the shower, and turned on the cold water, without thinking. When I stepped in, still in my class uniform, I was shocked back into reality, shivering in my wet clothes, desperately groping about for soap to clean myself with, so I could at least not smell like vomit when I walked out to meet Cinder.

I left the wet clothes on the floor, and put a towel on as tightly as I could, then threw open the door and sprinted towards the closet as fast as I could, slamming it shut behind me. Not letting anyone have time to come check on me, I fled to my section, and hid behind my mannequin as I changed into my regular outfit, silently blessing whoever designed the thermal technology behind it that allowed me to warm up so quickly.

When I was dressed, I looked in the mirror, and got control of my hair as best I could, not bothering to brush it at all, knowing the wind would simply knock it out of alignment. Then, readying myself at the door, I took a deep breath, and opened it, walking out into the room.

"Oh, good, you're awake. I was about to come in and tell you that it was time. I'm glad you're up and running, at least. Lightweights usually don't recover so quickly from such a large amount of booze like that, so it's good to see you at least have some regenerative qualities."

"Yeah, sure. Next time, we drink what _I bring home_, okay? I think I've lost faith in Qrow's brewing style altogether. Anyways, I'm going out. There's an emergency faculty meeting tonight, something about security issues. I'll catch up with you guys later on"

"Whoa, whoa, no good night? No 'Oh, I'm pretty sure I didn't just die of alcohol poisoning, and might need some ACTUAL medical help or anything', nothing like that? Forgive me, but a Schnee never lets someone go that easily, not when they can help it."

"Well, Weiss, most Schnees aren't bound by contract to attend all meetings of staff or face termination… Oh wait, they probably are. You get my meaning, I'll be fine, nothing's gonna happen, I'll be home by four."

"Promise?" Ruby inquired.

"Yeah, promise, team leader. See ya."

With that, I grabbed my grey Ushanka, and headed out the door, and set about properly setting up Arcturus, for whatever fight I was about to get involved in.

The trek across campus was bitter at best, with a gale of winter wind and sleet pounding away at my psyche as I droned on. When I reached the main dueling complex, I swiped my I.D card to gain access, and then quickly revealed in the technology of internal heating systems and my skin regained its pallor. I at down on one of the benches in the doorway, and felt a crunch underneath my butt. When i pulled what was the source out from underneath me, I saw a piece of paper, adorned with pink ink, and a golden blot on the bottom.

'_I'll be waiting on Duel pad three. _

_Don't forget to bring your good humor_

_You're going to need it._

_Cinder'_

She had signed the letter with a gilded kiss mark, next to her sloppily written name. I disregarded it for a while, instead basking in the glory of the heater, but soon realized it would simply be better to just get this over with. I stood up, and walked towards the platform on the far side of the facility. The entire place was once, giant open room, with a few netted arenas spread throughout, and a shooting range hidden in the back. It reminded me of a classic kind of gym. The lights were off, so I had to strain my eyes to pick up where some of the things were, but having night vision helped just a little bit with that. Even still, it was difficult to tell where things were.

I wandered for a few minutes until I reached the third platform, and then, not knowing what else to do, I climbed up onto it. When I did, the lights above it instantly flipped on, revealing the entirety of the arena.

"So, you actually decided to show up. Have to admit, I thought you would call my bluff, and pussy out on me, but it's good to see you have some balls, or rather, _had_ some balls, it would seem."

I couldn't source where the voice was coming from, but I definitely knew I was talking to Cinder.

"Yes, someone like you is quite unique; Travels through time and space, ends up here, abandons everything, all just to see the oh so precious father. Tell me, just how much does he actually mean to you?"

"More than a petty number can place."

"My, oh my, he must be quite the big man then? Just how good of a person was he to you, to make you hold him to highly?"

"Why did you call me here, Cinder?"

"You know damn well why, honey, because you know exactly who I am, and you know my story. Now, I can't have you go and blab about to anyone else here, or anyone in this world, even, because that would spoil all of the fun!"

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

"Why, I'm not going to do anything. I'll let _her _do that for me…"

Before I could react, I felt something sharp strike my legs, knocking me onto the ground, but not essentially damaged. I flipped myself, and saw the same cloaked faunus I had watched days prior over me, ready to decapitate me with a downward swing. I rolled out of the way before she could finish her swing, resulting in her nodachi slamming down into the ground where I once laid, and herself unable to remove it.

I took the opportunity of her confusion to tackle her, driving my weight into her sternum, and driving her into the ground at full speed. We hit the ground, and I straddled her, drawing my weapon from my holster, and placing it directly in front of her face.

"Yield… Now!"

I could not see her eyes underneath the hood, only a mouth, curled into a smile, which began to laugh at my demands. the laughter continued until I realized it wasn't coming from her mouth, but from directly behind me. When I turned around, I had to shield myself from a blaze being directed at me. The force of the fire knocked me back a few feet, onto the ground, with Cinder Fall malevolently striding toward me.

"Ho ho, I must say, little wolf, you are quite skilled for someone so green to combat, but I'm afraid you won't get to do any more training ever again. Your story ends here. "

'Wait, wait wait, think about this, Cinder, Ozpin knows everything about what you do, he would _know_ if you killed me!"

"Oh, don't you worry your little head about Ozpin, I have… Ways of dealing with him."

"Yeah, and what about Elodie, huh? I thought you were supposed to be shielding her from this kind of thing, not getting her involved in it!"

"You know _nothing_ of what we have suffered through, you know _nothing_ of what we saw! You have no place to tell me about what she should be kept away from!"

"I know _exactly_ what you went through, Cinder! Both of you, I know everything. The riots, the murders, the fang, I know everything! I know why you are who you are today, I know about how your father forsaked your sister for dead with a baby bottle full of poison, and you know what? That was utterly fucked up, and unforgivable! But, what exactly are you teaching her by continuing on with this bloody crusade of yours?"

"I have no choice, don't you see? If I just up and quit, not only does Elodie get expelled from Beacon, but I get injected with enough Arachnid venom to kill three men. I have to do this, or else everything just falls apart, and I can't have you jeopardizing any of it. I'm not willing to sacrifice both of our lives just for your petty _justice_."

She continued her fiery advance, calling forth columns of fire around her, malevolence building in her gaze.

"Cinder, wait! What if… What if it didn't have to be like that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Have you ever really had the chance to just, you know, talk with someone about what is going on with your life? You know, a friend?"

"Irrelevant, I don't need to talk about anything, because the only thing that matters to me is Elodie's safety."

"Yes, I see that but, you aren't doing her any favors by completely shutting yourself out to the world. Have you even actually had a good conversation with her since you've been here, or have you been so preoccupied with keeping her safe, and keeping yourself hidden, that there hasn't even been a single meeting-"

"SHUT UP!"

She launched her flame columns at me, they seemed to be going the speed of light, and building intensity as well. I wasn't able to block, or even run,as they approached me, all I could do is close my eyes.

I waited for the columns to convene on me, but nothing happened for a while. I opened my eyes, to see a small, hooded figure standing in front of me, sword retrieved from the ground, facing Cinder.

"Elodie, what are you doing? Get out of the way, she has to die now, or else everything you have here will be swept away!"

Elodie said nothing, but stood her ground, unmoving. Cinder readied another bout of fire, but Elodie did not budge.

"No… won't."

I had not heard the girl speak before, but it was a kind of intelligent, mild and smooth tone. It sounded a bit too mature for such a small frame, but I wasn't ready to call her over and comment on her voice just yet.

"Elodie… What did you just say?"

"I said… I said it won't move. Don't kill her."

"We can't let her live, she is too big of a risk to this entire-"

"**Talk** to her. Maybe not."

The complete 180 degree turnaround this encounter was taking was honestly confusing me. First they both wanted to kill me, then the one who almost decapitated me wanted to sit down for a little chat. Honestly, what the fuck was wrong with these people?

Cinder looked conflicted and confused as well, seemingly fighting two different paths, two choices. On one hand, she could just kill me and be done with it. On the other, she could listen to her sister, and take her opinion into account, gaining some much needed brownie points, and possibly save my ass from incineration.

She relaxed after a few moments, and walked over to us. She seemed to be discounting me altogether, focusing her attention solely on Elodie.

"Fine, I'll make nice. But, if this doesn't go the way _I _want it to, I'm picking up from where I left off. Got it?"

"Try."

She turned to me, and activated that piercing stare of hers, making me feel as though she was trying to cook my organs inside of me.

"You… Must forgive my sister, at the very least. She is not a very composed being, her judgement needs some work, it still seems. But, we have more important matters to discuss. You know who am, _what_ I am."

"You know the same of me, it seems."

"Yes, well, forgive me If I don't exactly call that an equal trade in this agreement. You are aware, I must assume, of the certain contract that commands my actions?"

"Yes."

"Then you also know that I cannot act without the consent of the council. I cannot go against their wishes, in turn. So, in that regard, if you leave this place still living, I do not think they would have you executed. Not yet, at least."

"The point?"

"The point is that so long as I am along for the ride, I cannot go against anything they say. I must do, move, and live, as they will. I have no will of my own. I am a puppet, and a puppet cannot walk without strings to save her sister if something happens to go wrong."

"R-right… So, what are you saying?"

"I propose a sort of tradeoff, one I think will prove quite advantageous to you. You get to live, on the terms of two conditions. The first, obviously, being to keep your little whore mouth shut about anything the old bastard told you, and I mean _anything_. Any kind of little quip, every tale, every detail of our lives, all of that remains behind closed doors. You only just met me a week ago, and it shall remain that way to everyone but us three."

"And?..."

"The second condition, yes. I want you to be Elodie's protector in my stead. I am not always able to be around to keep her safe, Oum forbid something should run astray, and I refuse to let her defend herself against the vicissitudes of fate, all by herself. You, little wolf, will be her guardian angel, because I cannot."

Elodie had been standing at the sides of the arena for the majority of the conversation, simply pacing back and forth, but now she perked up, and began to pay attention.

"Cinder…"

"I don't care, Elodie, I've seen how you fight, and honestly you simply aren't ready to be alone, not yet. So, until you are, I'm leaving you in her care. I'll talk to Ozpin, get you moved into as many of her classes as you can handle, keep her near yo-"

"I am _**fine**_."

"No, you aren't. If you were, you would have been able to kill her within four seconds, but you couldn't. Instead you lost your weapon, were pinned down, and forced to yield at gunpoint. I don't care what you _think_ you can do, Elodie, until I say so, she is staying by your side, end of story."

Elodie remained still, still visibly stiff, but quickly turned around in a huff, and disappeared into thin air.

"She will get over it. Now, since I will have to run after her, sooner or later, let us agree on the terms once and for all. In exchange for your silence, and your stewardship of my sister, you shall be allowed to remain alive. Do we have a deal, Miss Clarence?"

"I mean, you could have accomplished all of this without the whole 'trying to kill me' part, but, I guess I really don't have a choice at this point. I agree."

Cinder grinned slyly, and walked backwards, away from me.

"Good. Now then, I do believe you should go, it is getting quite late, and you have classes tomorrow. I'll send you some of Elodie's information in the morning."

Cinder looked as though she was about do some teloprtation shit, but I had to stop her before then, I still had one more question to ask.

"Wait, Cinder. Before you go, answer me this: Just how long were you gone? You treat her more like a subordinate than a sister, and she seems more defensive than affectionate."

"I don't need to explain myself to you. Mind your own business, and do your job. You can ask her, if she is willing to tell you. I have better things to do than stand here any longer and describe why it is that I talk to my own sister the way I do. Goodnight."

She turned her back on me,and evaporated into embers at the edge of the arena, leaving me alone in the eerily lit, abandoned gym.

"Well… I think she's a bit pissed, probably shouldn't have asked her that… Ah well, what the fuck, might as well get someone else powerful and evil pissed off at me, the more the merrier…"

Grumbling over my precarious ability to piss people off at random, I made my way back towards the door, eager to go back to the room and sleep off the rest of Yang's God-forsaken booze. Walking across the pitch-black gym, I couldn't help but wonder if I had just gotten myself into more trouble than I thought I signed on for. After I put my Ushanka back on, however, I felt my guilt and anxiety begin to melt, simply because it didn't really matter. I was already getting anally raped by schoolwork, training, and being a teacher all at the same time, so I might as well have something else to go on the side, right?


	17. Chapter 16

The elevator up to the dorms tended to be especially quiet in the nighttime. The music ran on a daily rotation that ended at about midnight. As such, I felt incredibly awkward standing in it by myself, waiting for it to reach my floor. Everything from the evening just seemed to keep on playing like a video recording in my head, and all I wanted was a stop button. Somehow, being burdened with Elodie's protection was a lot more bearing on my conscience than I expected it to be. My actions ultimately could determine if a person lived or died. That was much heavier a weight than simply teaching someone how to play an instrument, or passing a test. No, this was a trial, one that would determine if I was really ready to be a Huntress or not. A trial I _had_ to pass, or else everything would have been for naught regardless of who it was coming from.

When I heard the ding of the levator, I walked out the door into the carpeted hallway, and turned right toward the room. However, when I rounded the corner, something slammed into me like a rocket, and knocked me to the ground.

"ZWEII, NO, DON'T ATTACK ANYTHING YET!"

Something was currently trampling my chest, and much to my surprise, assaulting my face with licks. I couldn't open my eyes, but all I could guess was that Zweii was greeting me in the most aggressive way I could imagine.

"Jesus… Fucking… Christ Zweii… Someone… HELP ME… OUT HERE…"

"Zweii, no! Oh my Oum! Rika!"

I felt Zweii being pulled off of me, and I was finally able to open my eyes. Before me, Zweii was being held by the collar in the air by Ruby, who was ripping him a new one in the process.

"Woof!"

"Don't take that tone with me, you! No, say you're sorry to Rika. Say it!"

"Woof… Woof."

"Good Job Zweii. Come on, go back to the room, it's late."

Forgetting about us, Zweii sprinted back to the room, and disappeared from sight, leaving Ruby and I alone in the hallway.

"Heheh, sorry about that, Zweii gets pretty excited around Wolf Faunus, go figure. So, how did the faculty meeting go?"

Ruby offered her hand out to me, and I took it, lifting myself back to standing. When I was up, I looked down at Ruby,and shook my head weakly.

"Eh, not so well. I got shackled with being some kid's 'Guardian' of sorts, and basically got told that if I don't do a good job I might as well be roadkill…"

Ruby winced, and sighed along with me.

"Well, they say administration is a bitch, I guess now it's all in perspective, right?"

"Yeah, you got that right. By the way, why is Zweii here all of a sudden?"

"Oh, uhhh, the Kennels said he was too much of a burden to keep any longer, seeing as how we have been, ohhh… Two weeks late picking him up."

"Two weeks?! Ruby, how could you leave Zweii in the shelter for that long?"

"Well, I would have gotten him out sooner, but after the last two weeks,things have kept coming up in every single free moment that I've had…"

"Things like wh- Oh, right… Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine, I understand, life has just been a bit, well, full these days, since you've been around. It kind of makes me remember what life was like when I wasn't in Beacon at all…"

"Back at Signal?"

She nodded dazedly, and kind of lost focus on the hallway in front of her.

"Everything was so easy, I never really had to try that hard, and I always had enough time each day to do something with Yang, but now, I feel like everyone is so pulled apart by their own problems that we aren't really a team unless we're in an arena. A team should be more than that, a team should be, well…"

"A family."

"Yeah, exactly! We should all be able to call each other sisters, and never hide anything from each other, but right now no one really trusts one another. Weiss and Blake nearly fell apart after her whole… Y'know, Fawning problem?"

"Fawning pro- Ohh, okay, I get you. I agree, things like that are too common between us. There really isn't any kind of trust outside of a battlefield, and I hardly ever see anyone talking to each other…"

"Yeah, but somehow one of us is always talking to you."

"To me?"

"Yeah, every time I walk past you, one of us is around you, talking up a storm. We end up talking to you more than we do each other."

"Well, now that you mention it, I very rarely am alone when I'm going somewhere…"

"Hey, I have an idea! We should all do something together this weekend! You know, kind of re-commune with each other, remind us that we all exist! Will you have time for that?"

"Eh, sure, what the hell, I can go for it. The Arms department is taking for fucking ever to finish my order, so I won't be able to practice with the band outside of class until then. What do you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know, it could be anything. I'll have to think about it for a little bit… Ooohh, maybe we could-"

"Uh, Ruby, I hate to cut you short, but we're standing out in the hallways at Three in the morning, I don't think we should linger…"

Ruby yawned, and then began to meander back towards the room.

"Yeah, maybe we shouldn't…. Hey, Rika?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever change. No matter what happens, just stay the same…"

I smiled softly, and exhaled deeply, relaxing my posture.

"Sure thing, Ruby, I got you. Now, come on, let's go to bed, I'm exhausted."

We both walked back to the room, fencing Zweii in, and shutting the door, shutting out our anxieties along with the dim, yellow light of the hall.

* * *

"Yeah, that's good, just like that, keep swinging, Rika!"

"Y'know… It would be a lot better… If I happened to have... a glass of lemonade… Handy right now!"

"Nope, no treats 'till you land a blow on Blake! Come on, she may be slippery, but honestly this is getting a bit depressing."

"Yang, _she's a goddamned snake, what do you expect me to do!?"_

"Well, hit her, but it seems I'm being too picky with this."

The ringing of metal on metal and bodies sweeping through the air was ubiquitous to the outdoor training arenas. We just so happened to be in the same one I had first used with Ruby during the last break, but I did my best to keep that memory hidden. Blake was busy easily sidestepping my flurry of swings, while I was building up a pretty sufficient sweat attempting to find a gap in her dodges.

"Come… On, you…. Slimy…. Little… _BITCH… GIMMIE… THAT… SWEET…. ASS…"_

Blake stopped momentarily, a little bit shocked by my choice of words, giving me just enough time to step in close to her and land a jab with the hilt of my blade.

"Hah! Finally, I am victorious! I did it!"

"Not by a longshot…"

In my jubilation, I had forgotten that the simulation had not ended yet, and Blake had closed in on me. I did not have enough time to move out of her reach,and she took advantage of my opening by delivering a swift sliding kick to my legs, knocking me over, and landing several blows with her blade on the way down. My aura took everything, but it still took a toll on my I was on the ground, I turned to face the skies, and was subsequently held down with a blade at my throat.

Then, with a mock glare, Blake leaned in close to me, and whispered,

"Well, who was that, 'Slimy little bitch' again?"

"W-well, I only meant that as a-"

"I know, but just let me hear it again, who was it?"

Sighing, I conceded defeat.

"You…"

"You're damn right. I win, haha!"

"Ugh, I swear, one of these days it won't matter how fast you are, I'll just be able to swoop in and knock you down in one hit…"

"Keep dreaming, Rika. With moves like that the only way you'll be winning is if I'm asleep."

"Yeah, right. And, uh, sorry about, well… *cough* CallingyouaslimybitchI'mreallysorry *cough* man, the pollen is really bad today…"

Embarrassed,I couldn't bring myself to fully speak out my transgression, However, all my apology did was produce a bout of giggling from Blake.

"Don't worry about it, we all tend to trash talk each other when we duel, even Ruby. You just caught me a bit off guard with your word choice is all."

"Word choice, word choice…. Oh, I-uh- OH…. I, um…. Yeah, I guess so…."

"Hey, no need to be so reserved about it. You know how many times Yang has tried to grab my ass out in public?"

"More than once!" I heard Yang call from her spot on the edge of the ring.

"It might seem easy for you, but for me, well, that's kind of more like, uhm… Y'know, boyfriend and girlfriend talk, doesn't really seem right for people like us… I guess it sounds a bit more appropriate for other people to talk like that, like…. Like you and Sun."

"Sun and I? What makes you say that, out of all the people here?"

"Well, because you, I guess, sort of… Oh, do I have to say it?"

"Yes!" called out Yang.

"Well, because you… Like each other?"

Blake stared at me for a long while, the whole time developing a deep blush, until she finally jerked back to her senses, and donned a timid, embarrassed frown.

"So, you, uh, think I like Sun? Well, that's, uhm, nice, I guess..."

"What's wrong, Blake? I thought you did? I mean, you two tend to be near each other more often than most people, and the way you look at each other, well, kind of sends that signal."

"As a matter of fact, I haven't seen Sun in almost a week, so I don't quite get where you got that from. To add to all of that-"

"THEY BROKE UP THREE WEEKS AGO, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

Yang screamed her cutoff towards us, scaring me quite a bit, and leaving Blake shaking her head. A few people in adjacent courts had stopped their fights to look over at us, but not many were paying too much keen attention.

"Yes, as Yang said, Sun and I aren't a couple anymore. We DID like each other, but then… Things got a bit messy…"

I looked at Blake, and raised my eyebrow. She sealed her lips, and I raised my eyes further.

"Ugh, fine,I'll tell you. I... found out I liked girls. I'm a Lesbian, it seems. Sun, was a little bit shocked, and tried to talk me out of it for a while, but in the end, we decided it would be better for us to just be friends. If I remember correctly, last week he told me he was trying to catch Octavia's eye."

"Uh, who's Octavia?"

"Some girl from Haven. I care enough about him to not want him dead because of his love affairs, so i told him to be careful. I doubt he'll listen to me though."

The two of us couldn't find anything else to say after that. We sort of stood around, awkwardly staring into other directions, not daring to look each other in the eye. An apology on my part would most likely have been a good choice, but in the moment my mind seemed to be on a meltdown, partially because I had pried so much into her business, in the most embarrassing way, and partly because I knew that Blake was in my league.

"-AI!"

Suddenly, I was knocked down rather forcefully by what felt like a small explosion, crash landing me at Blake's feet, face down in the dirt.

"Oi, what the Hell was that?"

"That was me teaching you a lesson! Now do you know what happens when you go and meddle in someone else's business?"

Yang waved at me, baring her gauntlets at me, indicating where the shot had come from. She looked somewhere in between playfulness and rage, and I felt that if I didn't answer correctly I would get my ass beat royally.

"Y-yes, I do. Can you _not_ shoot me in the back again?"

"Okay, so I'll shoot you in the front instead!"

"No! Blake help me!"

Faster than I thought possible, I collected myself behind Blake, using her as a shield, peeking from behind her shoulder at Yang as she (mockingly?) walked over to us.

"Yang, enough, I think she's gotten hit enough today, and I think she will be a bit more mindful of herself from now on, right?"

I nodded my head at hyper speeds, eager to avoid my skull being smashed in by another shot from Yang's weapon.

"See? She says she will. Now come on, let's get back to training, shall we? We have enough to do as it is."

Yang reluctantly stopped a few feet away from us, huffing something too impure to be repeated, and then took her position on the edge of the ring just as before.

"There you go, all better?"

"Quite. Thank you for that. And also, uh…. Sorry for , you know, going a little bit too far down the rabbit hole on that. I didn't mean for it to turn out like that…"

"I know, Rika, apology accepted. I'm still kind of trying to figure this out for myself, so can you do me a favor and not talk to anyone about this? At least for now?"

"Sure, although I'm not exactly the type to go about spewing out other people's business left and right, that sound more like Jaune or Nora."

"Speaking of Jaune, he hasn't been back to class yet since…"

"Yeah, I know. I've tried to go and see him a few times, but they put him in the ICU, and they don't let anyone in there that isn't a doctor. He's really starting to worry me, I'm thinking maybe he won't just be able to walk all of this off…"

"He's more resilient than you can imagine, so from experience, I think he will be okay. No one makes it out of a firefight like that unscathed though, not even a hunter. Even you had mounds of infected wounds on you for a few days, and you have an almost impenetrable Aura. Jaune's is strong, but not _that_ strong. He'll have to fight a bit to make it out alright."

"I hope he'll be alright. Ugh, all this does is make me want to find the cretins who did that to us and just scrape them into the pavement until there's nothing left but red powder. Vermin like that don't deserve to make it out alive…"

"I know, but there's no use worrying about them now, at least until you are cleared to go back to the city. Until then, you really can't do anything, so just put it out of your mind."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Now then, where were we?"

"Me kicking your ass, I believe."

"Ah yes, now I remember. Let's see if I can do a little better this time around?"

"Yes, and remember, melee attacks onl-"

I didn't give her the opportunity to finish her sentence, because I had spent the time she had spent talking loading a new clip into Arcturus, unleashing all six shots of the gun on Blake. Two of the shots hit her, sending her flying back towards the other end of the sphere, and the rest flying off in random directions. In the future,I would have to learn to control the recoil, but in the moment I really didn't give a shit.

"Hah! I win!"

Blake sat up, glaring at me, but not in a way that would necessarily be considered hostile.

"Well… That would be considered a victory, _if we weren't focusing on your swordsmanship_, but I guess that will have to do for now. I see Goodwitch coming this way, and she looks like she means business."

I turned around to face the path leading up to the rings, and managed to catch a glimpse of Glynda's trademark platinum blonde locks and cape. She was making quick progress towards us, and looked, from what I could tell, like she was relatively annoyed. Although, even if she was smiling as she walked towards us, I don't think I would have felt any better. Goodwitch only ever approached students directly outside of a classroom unless there was a directive from another staff member or Ozpin himself.

She kept on walking, and eventually reached our proximity. She stepped over the median between us with ease, and strode onto the field, standing before us in record time. Blake and I were grouped up with Yang, standing in a sort of line, waiting for her to arrive.

She broke into her rounds quickly, not giving us much time to initiate idle chatter.

"Ozpin desires your entire team's presence in his office immediately. This matter is _highly_ confidential, and will not be communicated to anyone. Inability to remain discreet about this meeting will result in immediate expulsion, is that clear, girls?"

"Yes, Madam." We answered in unison.

"Good. I would hurry, this is of the utmost concern, and the Headmaster would not like to delay any longer than is necessary."

With that she walked off, leaving us to ourselves, creating divide in the incoming students as she walked back up the path. It was oddly biblical, the way kids avoided Goodwitch when she was walking towards them.

"Huh, I don't think I've been threatened with expulsion in a more direct way before. This must be serious."

"Yes, she isn't wont to hand out threats like that so readily, this is big. Come on,we should go find Ruby and Weiss, before anything else happens."

We nodded in consent, and jogged off of the court, heading back towards the dorms where Ruby was busy with Weiss grooming Zweii. Needless to say, his bad hair day could wait for something like this.

* * *

The five of us gathered in the lobby of the watchtower, waiting for the elevator to be summoned back down after we summoned it. We were slightly tense, but none of us were quite prone to showing their emotional states except for me. I could easily tell what emotions I wore on my face, but the rest of them were blank slates, I had quite a bit of trouble reading any of them. For all I knew, this could simply be a routine visit to Ozpin, instead of receiving some kind of top secret mission.

"Okay, I can't stand it any more. How the fuck are all of you so calm right now? Doesn't it bother you just one bit that something _really_ important is about to happen? Like, we could be getting sent to war, for all we know!"

The other four turned to me, slightly shocked that anyone had spoken at all. They remained silent for a while, but then, slowly, one by one, began to giggle.

"What's so funny? Forgive me, but I'm a bit lost on your logic here."

"It's-It's not exactly f-funny Rika, you just look like you're about ready to burst open at the seams, and it's a bit goofy to watch, is all."

"I'm still clueless Yang."

"You're always so composed, you never look like much stresses you out, even if it really is, so it's weird to see you pacing around and sweating bullets because Ozpin called us up to his office. we never would have thought something as trivial as this would make you worried."

"No, nonononononononono, it's not the meeting part that worries me, it's the fact that this is something so serious that _all_ of us are here. Normally, he just calls me up to talk about stupid ass things like grades or performance reports, but this is something totally different, this is like we're being sent away to fight, and I really don't think I'm ready for something like that yet, I can barely manage myself in combat, and I don't know shit about operating in the field, and I'm overloading and venting to you all because I don't know how to channel my stress once it gets clogged up like this and I really just want to go home and lay on the couch and never wake up because I am stressing out so badly THIS FUCKING SUCKS!"

I finished off my rant with as powerful a shout I could muster, then fell to the ground and curled up in a ball, trying my best to calm myself before my wayward Aura ended up killing everyone. I felt so pent up I could just cry, and maybe the tears would be as black as the Aura coating my body.

I felt myself shaking, I was inching back towards the wall, and when I felt the cold marble at my back, I sat up, sitting with my shins awkwardly out to the side, my face drooping over my legs. I felt like I was homeless on the streets, I was embarrassed that I had broken down so easily in front of everyone, at a time when we all were supposed to be so composed. Above all. I felt inept compared to everyone, who had probably been on more field missions than I, no, _definitely were_ on more field missions than me.

"Hey, Rika, it's not like we're impervious to stress, either."

I looked up, to see Ruby kneeled down next to me, sitting as I was, leaning in towards me, flanked by Weiss and Blake. Yang had wandered rather stealthily to my side, and was sitting next to me, leaning towards me on the wall.

"All four of us are under so much anxiety that we could all probably leave this school and never come back. However-"

"There's something that keeps us here, despite all of it." Blake cut in for Weiss, continuing her thought.

"We are all in this to protect the people, our families, our friends, everyone. But, you can't _just_ protect them. You need to be not just a protector, but also-"

"A beacon of hope!" cut in Ruby. "Hunters and Huntresses need to be able to put their own problems aside in order to take on everyone else's. You become the reason people aren't scared of the Grimm, and it's for more of a reason than because you go out and kill them."

"I-I can get that. That makes a lot of sense, actually. But, I have to ask; how do you all avoid killing each other or punching holes in walls because of all the stress?"

Yang shifted towards me along the wall, and nudged me a few times on the shoulder, grinning.

"Why do you think we have dueling arenas? Fighting each other like that gives us a nice way to beat out the worries!"

"Yes, the combat arenas are quite effective at mitigating stress levels we may encounter."

"So… You're saying all I have to do is go beat the fuck out of someone to feel better?"

"Well, it's only one way to do it, there are plenty other ways, but that one just happens to be the most… convenient for most of us, I guess."

I looked around me, at the four circled around me, and just oddly blinked, not saying much for a while. It hadn't really occurred to me that we were all huddled up in the lobby of Ozpin's office, or the fact that the elevator had already been called back down, and was waiting, open, for us.

"So, what do you say? Feel better?"

"Y-yeah, I do. I think I just needed to vent a little bit."

"Alright, it's all settled then. Come on, I think Ozpin's been waiting on us for a bit too long. And, Rika…"

"Yes?"

"Don't be afraid to talk to us, even about the deep, dark, annoying, or even Remnant-shattering things. It's not healthy to go off like that every time things pile up, you should have someone to talk to. If your own team isn't there to hear you out, how can anyone else?"

"I'm really only your intern, though…"

Weiss cut in front of Ruby, leaning down and wagging a finger, scolding me like a child.

"Oh, no, none of that! You live with us, train with us, learn with us, and I'm sure that if you trained enough, you could even _compete_ with us! Now, if that is not the definition of a team member, then I am not quite sure what is. You are as much a member of Team RWBY as anyone here, and I _refuse_ to accept otherwise!"

Blake, although not as forceful as Weiss, made her opinion known as well.

"Rika, I think you have _proven_ yourself to be on this team. Sure, your combat isn't perfect, but neither is ours. What matters more is that in the past month, I'm pretty sure you've kept us from killing each other more than a few times. Not only that, you can't be held to the same standard as us, because we aren't trying to teach and be taught at the same time. You're busy trying to revolutionize music _and_ become a world class warrior at the same time. You're simply too hard on yourself, take it from someone who nearly blacked out from exhaustion when Torchwick was still loose."

"Yeah, you kick major butt, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise!"

"Guys… You're gonna make me cry again!... Thank you…"

"Of course, that's what we're here for… We're a team, Rika."

I stood up, wiping my eyes with my sleeve, and pivoting to look at everyone, in turn, in the eyes. All of them bore a sincere gleam, yet held an unusual confident edge, one I'd only ever seen out of Ruby.

Finally deciding to move on from my outburst, I walked hastily over to the elevator, shepherding the others into it in the process, eager to get whatever it was Ozpin wanted of us over with.

When we were all in the elevator, I slapped the button, sending the rig soaring towards the top. For the first time, when I was sitting in the elevator, I pondered the fact that Ozpin somehow had smooth Jazz playing even though Jazz didn't exist in this world. When the door opened, Goodwitch's ranting kept my attention, severing all thought on the matter.

"_Just where have you all been? I came to get you an hour ago, did I not tell you that this was a time sensitive matter?! You know what? Never mind that, __**do not keep him any longer, get in there NOW."**_

I was not wont to induce Glynda's wrath, and promptly obeyed her order, nearly sprinting into Ozpin's office, lining up with everyone in front of his desk. He was visibly annoyed, and glaring towards us and we rushed in.

"Well, now that is seems you have all _finally_ decided to grace my presence, I shall tell you exactly why it is that you are all here. Or, rather, _we _will."

As he said that, he stood up, and put the holographic device I had used to contact the council on his desk. When he did, a figure of General Ironwood appeared, standing in the usual formal pose.

"_General Ironwood, sir!"_

Weiss had snapped to attention upon seeing the general, meanwhile the rest of us stood there unimpressed.

"At ease, Miss Schnee. All of you are gathered here because there exists a threat inside your area of operations that the Atlesian military has failed to deal with, regretfully. We have deemed the mission too volatile to give to a normal military unit, so it has been passed on to you as part of your training."

"You couldn't kill the Regalis, could you?" I already knew, if Ironwood was before us, that this was what he was meant to impart upon us.

Ironwood simply sighed, and nodded grimly.

"Not even my special units could win against this thing. It is a new breed of Regalis, something we've never seen before, something far more formidable than the classic."

"If it's that formidable, why ask us? Shouldn't you be using the massive amounts of military material at your disposal to off this thing?"asked Blake

"I have called upon you five because you possess something my soldiers and Hunters never will. You have the single most powerful Aura on the planet."

As he spoke, he locked his authoritative eyes with mine, pointing a single finger at me.

"M-me? But I'm still a rookie! I can't do shit in a fight, I'll get decimated, Aura or no!"

"Irrelevant. Your Aura is the single most powerful weapon in existence, and it is your duty to unlock such power and turn it against the Grimm. I have relayed the plan of action to Ozpin, he will carry on from here. I expect a good report upon return."

With that curt finish, he disconnected his end, shutting off the hologram, and sending me into another panic, albeit a more controlled one than before.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA TIME OUT HERE... Okay, Ozpin, can you PLEASE explain things just a _bit_ better than he did? I'm not quite getting the whole picture."

"Allow me to fill in the blanks for you, then. The general has exhausted all of his available resources to combat this evolved Regalis, and is desperate to keep the situation contained. Publishing the mission to the Hunter corps would make the incident public, the one thing he wants to avoid at all costs. So, he turned to me, asking for assistance, and I in turn offered to help. So, it is now your mission to find this Grimm and eliminate it by any means possible."

"And, uh, that little bit about me, care to go over that too?"

"I cannot. The power he spoke of was your semblance, which I imagine he expects to be something quite impressive since you possess the single most powerful Aura on the planet. He seems to believe that they lie on an equal power level."

"Does he happen to know that I don't _know_ what it is yet?"

"He does not. He knows little to nothing of you besides the status of your enrollment here and the capacity of your Aura. Although, I would expect visits from him in the future, since you _are_ a listed citizen of Atlas."

"Aww shit, that's right, I forgot about that. Ugh, that is kind of irrelevant right now, I'm more worried about the fact that he thinks I somehow have the power to hunt this thing down and kill it with lasers or something. I mean sure, Weiss has been helping me figure out how to channel Aura more efficiently, but I haven't used it offensively at all! Glad he thinks I can do that."

"Too bad we're gonna go kill it with guns bullets instead! I'm all for it,let's go!"

"Ruby, hold on, this sounds kind of serious, fully fledged hunters couldn't beat this this thing, what chance do we have of beating it?"

"You mean besides the fact that despite being first year academy students you are more experienced in combat of all types than most newly inducted hunters? Miss Schnee, I could not think of a team at this school more prepared for this than you. Now, Miss Clarence, for you this field operation will be the first of many, but I realize that this is quite a leap from coursework and practice duels, so I am ordering you to stay within _inches_ of at least two of the others. Going off on your own in Forever Fall is as easily a guarantee of death as walking off of Beacon's cliffs. When combat begins, do your best to remain isolated from the threat itself, and stick to ranged attacks. We would all be very angered to hear you ended up dying as a result of trying to win a battle you knew you could not. Is that clear?"

"Y-yes, Professor. It seems like everything is pretty much cemented in place as of now, so what else can you tell us?"

"You will be leaving Beacon at 0600 hours tomorrow, and will be excused from all classes until further notice. The site you are to operate in is about One hundred Kilometers from here, you will be taking a Bullhead there. However, be cautioned, if it is destroyed, there will be no reserve evacuation. All other details will be mailed to your scrolls, study them before you depart."

He paused for a moment, and after taking a sip from his mug, began again.

"You have all been rather quiet, save for Miss Clarence. Is there anything you wish to ask of me? This is a rather large undertaking, yet you all coalesced rather easily."

"We're bored" moaned Ruby.

"Agreed, it has been quiet since Roman was put away, I guess we have been spoiled by action, we've all been a bit rammy. It's a bit difficult to go from fighting the forces of evil every other week to filing essays."

"Yeah, we want some action!"

Ozpin chuckled softly and shook his head.

"I should have known, it would never suffice to keep you all constrained by the common suffering of academia. Well, you have enthusiasm, I will merit you that. Rest while you can, however, as I doubt you will want for excitement in the coming days. The wilderness is more trying than any professor on this planet…"

Ozpin turned his back to us, relaxing his stance and taking another sip.

"You are all dismissed. May your journey be well."

None of us carried the conversation further, instead we turned and exited without any more words. I was last to leave, glancing back at Ozpin to see him walking out onto the balcony, shoulders drooped and head hung low. He seemed even more melancholic than usual, but it just didn't seem the time to try and console him or anything of the like. Instead, I turned back around and gathered with the others in the lobby, awaiting the elevator back down to the ground floor.

"Deja Vu… I think." Mused Ruby.

"How so? It's not exactly every day we get told we're about to go hunt a grimm composed of nightmares."

"There's only one time I've ever seen Ozpin like that before, so disconnected and dismissive, almost impatient, ready for something else it happen, like what's going on right now is just something to get over with…"

"At the initiation speech…" I mumbled.

"Y-yeah. How did you know that?"

"Well… Ozpin told me himself. He said his mind was kind of hazy that day, he was so busy trying to think of what would come of the day. I think he gets like that when something really important is about to happen."

Of course, he had said nothing of the like to me, and this was all simple speculation, but I had to give them something to fill the void. I knew fully well that it still wasn't the appropriate timing to tell them all what I knew about all of them. Maybe one day I could go a bit more in depth about Earth, but not right now, when things were still so fresh.

"I can see that coming from someone like him." Weiss added. "Ozpin strikes me as the foreboding type, someone who looks more to the future and the past than to the present for answers. SO, it only makes sense that he expects great things out a mission that will keep every major military in Remnant from looking like a puppy fighting an alligator."

"Even still… It just doesn't sit right with me. I'm not all that excited about going out hunting so soon, but it doesn't seem like there's anything I can do now to change his mind, so I just have to adapt as best I can. I mean, hey, I got sprayed down by a damn armor piercing gatling gun at point blank range and lived, what can kill me now?"

"A lot." chimed Yang.

"Aaaaaaaaaand there goes all the confidence. Okay, time to brood."

"Kidding, Rika, just kidding. You might get roughed up a bit, but from the sounds of it I think we all will be, so don't get too worked up over it. Just stay low and do what you can from afar, no one ever said you had to go balls to the wall to be a good fighter. Look at Ruby, half of her strength is a giant sniper rifle!"

"Yeah, before I even knew how to use a scythe, Uncle Qrow put me through a year of sniper training so that I would know how to kill things from over a click away! There's nothing wrong with a little ranged combat! Knowing when to back up can save your life."

"Aye, I guess it makes sense. I feel like I have a lot of preconceptions about fighting here that all seem pretty dangerous. I can assume it's a good thing that I'm taking classes on how to not get myself killed then."

A grunt of agreement echoed through the hall, followed by the ring of the elevator. We all filed into the space, and descended down to the bottom floor. When we stepped outside, the sun hung much lower in the sky than it had earlier, just beginning to set and set its usual orange hues to the sky. The five of us walked out into the cold winter air, all clinging to your clothes a bit tighter in the chilling breeze, but continuing our strides. We strolled out in front of Ozpin's tower, keen on heading back to the dorms. However, as we began to turn out onto the path to the room, a sudden idea hit me.

Hastily I turned around and headed in the opposite direction, heading for the cliffs that looked over Vale. I broke into a sprint, feeling my breath draw increasingly heavy as my already exhausted muscles were pushed once again to their brim. I tried to coax a bit of Aura out to aid the process, but it seemed that my strength had all but deserted me. I ran for what felt like hours before I reached the destination I had in mind. In a small, secluded section of turf not far from the armory, there laid a small alcove which almost none new about… Except Blake and I.

Not long after I had gotten out of the hospital for my wounds following the night from Hell, Blake had found me a free moment and taken me there. From the clearing, one could see over the entirety of the city and out over the ocean with a completely unobstructed view, all the while being surrounded by a small assortment of greenery and flowers, completely secluded yet prone to one of the most glorious views around.

I broke into the clearing trailing dust behind me, and knocking over a few of the more fragile plants around me. I looked around for a few moments, taking in every detail of my surroundings. I had frequented this little piece of the campus quite often in between study sessions, as kind of way to hide from whatever bout of responsibility would come chasing after me in the minutes to come. I had grown fond of it in a way I had not thought possible in such a short time.

I sat down with my back facing the brick wall of the armory, bringing my knees to my chest, and hiding my face in them. The few feet in front of me that led to the cliff felt like miles in that moment, everything felt… Infinite.

"So, here you are." Said a voice to my right. I looked over to see Dad and Blake standing a few yards away, one leaning on the wall, the other pawing her legs nervously. Blake looked genuinely distressed, but Dad had his usual caring calm about him. They strode over to me, and flanked me on either side. Dad eased himself down onto the ground, but Blake remained standing.

"So… I hear you're already off to save the world. Ironwood has some pretty ballsy assumptions about you, it seems. He thinks you're ready go out and bring peace to the world, when you're sitting here, without a clue in the world as to how the hell you even dodge a bullet."

"Yeah, I know. But I don't have a choice anymore. Hell, I don't think I ever did. I've felt so powerless ever since I got here, and this is just adding to it."

"Yeah, I get the feeling. We're both in the same boat, it seems."

"Yeah, but forgive me for saying that unlike me, you don't have to worry about being stabbed and paralyzed, then eaten alive."

He shrugged, and smirked. "Fair, fair. But, I'm not wrong in saying that I still get your feelings. I'm your dad after all, and I would be a pretty lousy one if I didn't."

"Right…"

There was silence after that, save for Blake's small twitching and knocking on the wall next to me.

"I don't wanna die, Dad…"

"I know, little man, I know."

"I'm fucking scared as Hell, I don't want to have it all end here, but what the fuck else is going to happen? I'll be out there with no fucking idea what to do, I'm not ready for this! They won't be able to protect me, they'll be busy fending for themselves, and I'll be alone…"

"No, you won't be."

Blake suddenly smashed her fidgeting hand against the wall, and turned her head down to look at me, the timid frown replaced with a stern and firm indignation.

"We _will not _ abandon you, Rika. We are not someone like Cardin who would cast out the weak and go on by himself. We care about you, and we wouldn't dare do something like that. We know you're scared, and to be honest so are we. I can see it in everyone's faces, even Ruby, we all feel the way you do. The best single chance we have to make it through this is by staying together, and not letting anything go to our heads. The minute we do either of those things, we've already lost."

I wiped the building tears from my face, and looked up at her.

"Blake, I…"

"Hush, and listen. Rika, I don't know how many times I have to say this, but I'll say it again, since you seem to have gunpowder in your ears or something. You. Are. Not. Alone. Ever. The five of us are teammates, and that will never change. Teammates keep each other alive, and look out for each other, no matter what. Now, if you ever forget that again, I swear I'm going to sew it into your skull, got it?!"

I nervously nodded, and contemplated on her words while looking out absentmindedly over the ledge. Blake sighed heavily and collapsed down next to me, doing the same.

"So, what made you come here, of all places?"

"I wanted to remember every inch of this place, so that if I never came back, I could think about it before I died, how good it felt to be sitting here. I thought maybe it would help me a bit."

"Well, not a bad thought. It's always nice to have something good to think about. But, I don't think we're going to need it like that. Not yet."

"I fucking hope so, Blake. I fucking hope so."

The three of us sat there, drowned in our own ruminations for quite some time. When Blake finally stood up and left without a sound, the sun had already set and the air had turned much more frigid. I had been shivering for a while, but Dad was unaffected. I didn't care, all I wanted was to be there, and to have it be as clear in my mind as possible.

"You should believe Blake when she says things. She is more trustworthy than any person on this campus. I would drink poison if that girl told me it would bring back my legs."

"What makes you trust her so much?"

"She is more of a human being than any person in this school, except maybe for Ozpin. The things she has seen, the things she has had to do, they've humbled her to an extent I haven't seen in a long time. Sure, she can be judgey, and cold, and critical, but you know what? She's like that because she doesn't want anyone else dead. She's seen too much death to be the cause of it for anyone else she cares about."

All of that made sense, I didn't try to question it. I simply sat there and nodded, not saying anything. Then, suddenly, Dad grabbed my shoulders and brought me into his embrace. His chest was shaking, and his breathing ragged.

"You better be fucking safe, you hear me? I _refuse_ to hear that I've outlive my child… I refuse. You better not die, god damn you… Be safe, _please…._"

"I-I will, Dad, I promise. Don't worry, they will make sure I stay alive."

"I know, but I can't control what they do, I can only do that for you."

"Okay… I promise, I'll come back alive. I love you, Dad."

"Me too, little man, me too. Please, be safe…"

* * *

**_Yeah, that's nice. I'm back mates, sorry for the wait. Y'know, getting into college, watching Season 3, all that good stuff. Now, ooohohohoh now is when we get into the good stuff, no more buildup, no more filler. We're fast approaching the climax I imagined up some seven months ago. Fasten your seat-belts, it's going to be fun from here on out. Cheer mates._**


	18. Chapter 17

"ETA Two minutes everyone, ensure your gear is operable, now's the last chance to grab any supplies you need, I've got grimm movements on radar."

"Roger, Pequod. You heard him, final gear check."

Amid all of us running through every last gear, slide, and mechanism on us, I looked out the window of the bullhead and gazed on the warmly colored Forever Fall forest beneath us. The amount of orange on the trees was stunning, and at the same time slightly hard to look at. As I shoved the thoughts of what could be lurking in there from my mind, Ruby tapped me on the shoulder, giving me a reassuring smile. I returned the gesture and set about ensuring that all of my own equipment worked. Arcturus was tuned and oiled, and over my shoulder I had a sling of about thirty loaded cylinders, more than enough ammunition to slay a battalion of beowolves according to Ruby. However, the weight of all that dust and metal couldn;t have been less than thirty pounds, on top of my own provisions and gear strung to my back. The last two weeks of fortification had done well to prepare for it, however, as I could not have imagined getting more than half a click with all of this gear before that.

"Approaching the LZ, get ready, it looks like we've got guests. I'll try to think them out if I can."

"Do as you will, Pequod, we'll take care of the rest."

"Roger that, Rose, beginning our descent."

As I locked my action back into place, and readied my blade form for action, I could feel the miniguns of the bullhead rev up and begin firing. A burst here, a few bursts there, and then we touched onto the ground. The five of us rushed out with weapons up, greeted by a few Ursa and a beowolf.

Not waiting for any kind of fire order, I took a shot at the beowolf, hitting it in the lower abdomen, and cleaving it in two with ease. satisfied, I turned my attention to the Ursa, which had begun charging towards us.

"Pequod to RWBY, we are evacuating the LZ, stay sharp out there. You know how to reach us when the job's done. Good Luck."

"Roger, we will. You make it out too, or else we're all fucked."

"Hey, don't worry about us, we're experts. This is a walk in the park."

Hastily, the Bullhead took off again, speeding back in the direction of Beacon, leaving us alone amidst a solid square hundred kilometers of wood and death.

"Alright, let's go ladies, we've got a Regalis to kill."

"Rika, we've got more important things to deal with for right- Now. HEADS UP!"

Pausing the banter for a moment, we all diverged from each other to dodge the charge of the Ursa, and began our assault on its undefended rear. The thing was weakened by our assault, but even the bullets of Crescent Rose and Arcturus weren't enough to outright kill it. We were going to have to get in close for a kill.

"Rika, keep the second one busy while we take care of the first. Yang, keep her company!"

"Gotcha! C'mon, let's go have some fun!"

I nodded firmly and turned back to the second Ursa, which had stood its ground and simply shook its head slightly as we shot up its brother. Yang charged in at the speed of light, going for its sides. I switched back to a ranged form and took aim it its head with the ACOG. Spacing out my shots, I managed to line a few of them up with its snout, creating a large crack in its armor. Quickly going back to the sword once again, I called out to Yang as she tore its sides to smithereens.

"Yang, keep it dazed, I'm going in!"

"Be careful, but gotcha!"

I ran up to its forehead as it shook violently from Yang's assault of punches and explosions, and did my best to aim up the tip of my blade with the crack. Finally finding a suitable moment, I fired off a shot and send the blade reeling into the crack, cleaving its forehead in two, leaving something akin to a pair of tongs left in its wake.

Behind us Ruby, Weiss, and Blake were finishing up their encounter smoothly. The Ursa was on its last leg, and Ruby was closing in for the kill. As I watched, Yang came up from behind me and leaned her arm on my shoulder.

"Nice moves, newbie. You're already getting the hang of this. Although, the execution could have been cleaner."

"Tell me something I don't know. C'mon, let's go see if we can get a few hits in before they steal all the fun!"

"Righto, right behind you."

The two of us ran over to the second fight eager to lend a hand, but it turned out it was not really needed. Ruby had the thing in a headlock with Crescent Rose, and executed her signature decapitation move to finish it. As its head fell to the ground, she fell alongside it, gracefully and softly, and rose to greet us.

"Everything good over there?"

"Yeah, we're done. So, now what do we do?"

"Head to the Regalis' last known location, about twenty clicks out to the East."

"Alright then, guess we'll be on our way. Shall we?"

As the four of us turned to face our goal in the East, a single crow cawed in the distance, distinct above the regular clamor of the forest trees and animals. Overhead, the clear sky was dyed a bright orange, representative of both the scenery and the time. It made me think as well.

"We won't make it there before night falls."

"Of course, we'll have to set up camp sooner or later and sleep in the trees to avoid attracting Grimm."

"I-in the trees?"

"Yep, but don't worry, we'll have hammocks to keep us aloft up there. It's not like we can balance ourselves while we sleep."

"R-right. Well. let's get going then. I rather like the idea of getting some distance in before dark."

"Okay~! Yang, take point. Weiss, you're on rear guard. Blake, Rika, with me. Move out!"

With our roles distributed, we began our well paced march towards the East, through the thick brush near the clearing, leaving behind the almost disintegrated corpses of the Ursa behind us. Somehow, I had a very good feeling it was going to be an excruciatingly long day…

* * *

As the sun dipped even further into the sky, our pace did not slow. Yang kept a very brisk standard as we marched, and even managed to oust a few beowolves as she went on. The rear was surprisingly quiet, with the exception of Weiss bemoaning the cost of cleaning her outfit upon return and the amount of bleach she would need to get out all the grass stains. Mostly to keep myself from going crazy between her and the dull drone of the forest, I began to hum a few licks of Jazz to myself, keeping it as quiet as possible so as to avoid attention.

A heavy sigh resounded from my right, and I turned to spot Blake shaking her head at me.

"Even when we're here to kill a giant Grimm you can't stop being a music nerd. You're lucky Weiss and Ruby can't hear you, else they might try to ask more questions. And then we'd have the whole forest on our heels from all the talking."

"Meh, what can I say, I'm a musician at heart, I just happen to want to kill things that hurt other people as well. That's why I'm the music Professor, and not stealth tactics Professor."

Amidst a sly smile, Blake turned forward again, continuing.

"If you were, we would have a whole other set of problems to deal with. I would be less worried about my own techniques and more about everyone's survival."

"Oh? And makes you think that just because I can't hold my own in a fight I also can't keep quiet when need be?"

"Because I've borne witness to your attempts at "keeping quiet" whenever you try to leave the dorm at night, and let me tell you, even if I didn't have superhuman hearing I would be able to hear you coming halfway down the hall without even opening the door."

"Oh yeah? And what of your attempts? I've been woken up quite a few times by the sound of crinkling cellophane and ruffling sheets, and they always happen to be coming from your side of the room, in your bunk, rather odd, if I do say so…"

I swear I almost heard Blake choke on something next to me, but no sooner did I hear that did I hear the sound of Yang's weapons firing off again, cutting between us like a knife of sound, and bringing our attention to the front of us.

Yang turned around to face us, ejecting her empty shells, visibly exhausted, and panting heavily.

"Guys… I think here would be a good spot to stop for the day. I-I'm kind of … tired…."

And before we could even take another step towards her, she tumbled over onto the ground and collapsed face first into the dirt.

"Yang!" the three of us cried. We all broke formation to run to her side, but halfway over to her, she threw up hand with a rather clear thumbs up sign at us. She was presumably alright, just exhausted and beyond done with being point guard.

Ruby was the first to break out of the general trance of shock that fell over us.

"W-well, I guess we _should_ stop, the sun is getting rather low, and there won't be much light left in about an hour. Why not set up camp?"

"Meh, why not, sure. So, where are we going to set up shop with our hammocks?"

"I see a pretty good sized tree over to the right, about four meters out. The height will ensure nothing will climb up to us, and the amount of leaf cover will keep us hidden from any prowling wanderers. I can hear a river over to the left, Rika, take Ruby and get enough to hydrate our rations. Weiss, help me get Yang up, I doubt she'll be able to climb up there in this state…"

"Right. Although,I can totally understand it…"

Blake took Weiss over towards Yang's fallen form and set about lifting her as best they could. Ruby and I, meanwhile, took out all of the spare bottles we had to the river about ten meters away and stuck them all in, one by one, filling them to hydrate our rations. The result was about ten minutes of silent, cold and wet bottle filling, leaving the two of us even more tired and even more ready to call it a day than when we had stopped. There really wasn't a need for words when all you were doing was getting water. After all, it's not like you could really discuss much anyways. I was, however, surprised that she had nothing to talk about. Especially with me, she always had _something_ to talk about, not matter what, no matter how trivial. Maybe the weight of this mission was finally putting a weight on her, now that we were all out here, and amid the hoard of Grimm that resided here. Or maybe there was something else. Either way, it was slightly off putting to experience a silent Ruby. On the way back to camp, I decided to bring it up with her.

"Oi, Ruby, you mind me asking you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why so quiet? Usually you're so chatty, and all of a sudden nothing. What gives?"

"I'm listening. Uncle Qrow told me I need to work on that, since I'm pretty bad when it comes to sneaking and staying hidden. So, I thought I would give it a try since we're out here in the thick of it. Is it really noticeable?"

"Very. It's almost uncomfortable, you're so quiet. I get it now, but before I legitimately thought something was wrong. But, if that's all there is to it, then I'm not so worried."

"Yeah, no big deal. Thanks for talking to me about it though. Blake and Yang would have just kept quiet about it if you hadn't said anything at all."

"And Weiss?" I inquired.

"She never questions me much, she just tends to judge when things don't go her way."

"Heh, sounds like an Heiress to me. Welp, let's get back before they think we've been eaten, shall we?"

Instead of answering, she simply began humming a tune of her own and wandered off from my side, leaving me jogging awkwardly after her.

* * *

Aside from a few separated Beowulf lurkings, we suffered through a rather uneventful evening before bed. Slightly warmed rations and cold water were our meal, and a vitamin infused pill we all took served to boost our Aura reserves slightly, and possibly prepare us a bit better for the morning when our hunt began in earnest. When we were ready to sleep, we drew straws to determine the order of the watch, then looked for suitable branches to set up in. Ruby ended up with the first watch, followed by Weiss, Blake, Yang, and Finally me. After leaving Ruby on the forest floor with a can of coffee, the four of us ascended to the treeline with hammocks in tow.

"Hey, these two branches up here look like they could hold all four of us!"

Weiss jumped up to check on Yang's claim, leaving me and Blake aimlessly searching around us, mostly just waiting for Yang and Weiss to finish arguing over which branch would be stable or not.

"So… Read any good books lately?"

Slightly surprised, but still feeling the awkwardness of my question, Blake answered tentatively.

"Umm…. I guess so, but not by your standards. I doubt you care for… well…"

"Care for what?"

"Well… Smut, quite honestly. The rather intense kind…"

"O-oh… Huh, well… Hehe, I mean I'm no stranger to erotica, but… I'm no regular."

"Right, *cough* well then-"

"You know, you're cute when you're flustered… and I said that out loud."

"Y-you did… I'm cute?"

"Well of course you are. But… Even more so when you're out of character. I'm so used to seeing that strong, composed, quiet Blake that whenever you break out of your composure it's kind of refreshing in a way."

"Refreshing… So that's it then… Oh fuck it."

Easily keeping her balance on the rickety branch that held us aloft, Blake closed the distance between us with breathtaking ease and pinned me by the arms against the trunk of the tree, moving especially close to my face and remaining there for a few seconds. I didn't try to do anything, or say anything either. I was confused as all hell, and had no idea what was going on. A Grimm ambush below, maybe? Was she trying to save me from something I hadn't noticed? All I could do was keep my mouth shut and wait.

"You… I… It's just….I think… Well…"

"Blake, what's wrong!? What's happen-"

I could barely get a sentence out before I was dramatically cut off by a pair of lips covering my own. I could feel my eyes shoot up in shock, my whole body tense and lock up, my heart nearly explode, my mind go into overdrive. I was at once stirred up and broken down, excited and dulled, I couldn't think, couldn't breathe. All I could do was give in, let the person before me control everything for me. My eyes slowly closed shut, my arms went limp, along with my legs.

Not that it mattered, anyways. Blake's grip on me was so strong that I could have gone to jelly and not moved a single inch. I felt weak down to my very soul, but I couldn't have cared less, not for a single minute. Our lips met in such a way, that I barely knew if they were even touching. I felt her tongue seek entry to my mouth, and I let it, allowing her full access to me. I still couldn't hold a straight thought at this point, I could only utter muffled groans and stuttering breaths.

Those few moments felt like an eternity to me. We could have been there, locked in each other, for hours if we wanted. Blake's skill at kissing was admirable, the intensity of the moment flaring as she moved herself in ways I didn't know could enhance something as simple as a kiss. It was… Sheer bliss. I loved every moment, and nearly collapsed when she finally removed herself from me and broke away, if only to a distance of mere millimeters from my face. I found myself, still not quite breathing properly, staring right into her golden spheres, unable to find any kind of way to respond to this sudden embrace. I don't think she wanted anything from me, though. Her expression was like one of relief, like a job well done, of something that was meant to be done and then forgotten. But I didn't want to forget, not at all. Whatever I felt for her didn't matter, it didn't matter that we were on the same team, it didn't matter that I found myself coming to love Weiss, it didn't even matter that we could both be dead the next morning. All that mattered was her. That moment had brought everything to the surface, and launched it full force into my mind, as sudden as this all was…

I think I loved her.

"Blake…" I whispered, a sound so soft that all the effort it took me to make the sound seemed pointless.

"No, don't speak. Let me do that talking. Rika Clarence, I love you. I wanted you to know that, so that no matter what happens tomorrow, there will never be any regrets. I don't care if you don't love me back, and I don't care who you were before you came here. I know you _now_, and I love the person who is in front of me now, no exceptions. Ever since that night on the rooftops, you have been the only thing I can think of. I still have no clear idea of why this is so, but all I know is that it _is._ All I know is that I could be the last person alive, and all I would want is you by my side, whispering in my ear that everything will be alright, and to have you in my arms as life drains away from my body. I want nothing more than to waste away with you in legends, but I know such endings are only for the lucky. I know that one of us is likely to die before we could even do anything more meaningful that a sloppy Kiss, so I took the initiative. I want this to be how I am remembered by you if I die. _Promise me_, that no matter what, even if I don't die, that this is how you'll remember me. Please…"

"I...I-I will. I promise…"

Blake grunted softly, and loosened her grip on my arms, still not letting go entirely.

"Blake…" I just couldn't form the words. It should have been so easy, for me to just say that I loved her back, so easy to affirm what I knew I could feel burning in my chest, what I had so longly felt since before I even knew Blake in person. But… Something stopped me. The words were simply lost to me, I wasn't sure if they were simply forgotten amid the rush of her kiss, or simply not the right words to say at all. Whatever the case was, the burning in my chest remained. People had always described love as this wonderful, romantic passion that was unique for everyone who felt it. For me, I knew that the burning anxiety in my Heart was love, and it felt good. I had never felt that way before, not ever, and it did not take me long to discover what it meant. My tail had been slapping the tree trunk behind me incessantly for minutes now, and it took a great deal of effort to calm it as well. It was like trying to hold in a burp, trying to keep your instinct at bay.

"No, not here and not now. Save it for when the time is right. Too much relies on Fate for anything else to be said now. Steel yourself as best you can, they're coming back down soon. Wipe your face too, you look like a mess."

I heard the tree branches above rustling, and the arguing of our white and yellow comrades getting closer. I used my sleeve to wipe my mouth and face, as well as take the opportunity to fix my more than usually disgruntled hair. I was lucky, in that it took longer for Weiss to climb and descend with her heels, as my hair was taking extra care to be a general prick and not obey the laws of physics.

The two of them, amidst an annoying fight over the security of this or that branch, ultimately decided on a housing location, about ten feet up, and hailed us towards it.

"The branch another foot or so up would have done just as nicely…" sighed a disappointed Weiss

"Hush, it's over, and I'd rather not deal with this all night. Besides, argue all night and being up here won't have any tactical effect, with all the noise."

"Hmph." was the only response I received, aside from her blush and sideways looks.

"Cmon, the branch is up here. Follow me." Bounding up the twisting serpentine patterns of the tree, Yang led the three of us up to the spot she had found. It was a branch similar to the one Blake and I had been standing on as they searched, but with adjacent branches near it able to be used as tie off points for rope, which would ultimately hold up our hammocks.

I admit, I was nervous about using the things. The material that comprised them looked sketchy at best, and I seriously doubted that they had any kind of tactical advantage whatsoever. To me, it looked like it was sufficient to be nothing more than a simply fishing net.

"Uh, guys, are you _sure_ that this hammock won't, oh I don't know, rip to shreds as soon as I get into it and drop me onto the forest floor?"

"We wouldn't have them if they weren't safe, Rika, just relax. A lot of Huntsman equipment looks this way. The lighter it is the more we can take with us." Answered Yang.

"Eh… alright, if you say so."

After I had finished setting up my wire rigging to the far ends of my makeshift bed, I did every kind of check I could imagine on the setup before I chanced stepping down into it. Blake and Weiss had already done so, and with much more trust than I, but unfortunately I didn't have their experience with the technology. It couldn't have been a more anxious moment as I eased myself into the mesh, carefully, and slowly. Finally, I felt my weight rest on the fabric, stretching slightly but not bending or breaking. I moved myself into it more completely, leaning my arms and legs into it as well, and finally closing the flap above my head, sealing myself inside.

I had to say, it felt a lot more comfortable than it looked. I felt secure, but not claustrophobic or compressed, and the fabric didn't dig into my backside. With the slight swing I had given myself getting in, I felt myself gently ease into relaxation (or as much as you could get in a Grimm infested forest).

As I drowned out the drone of the forest around me, my thoughts drifted erratically. One minute I was going over my first meeting with Yang, the next I was panicking over whether or not I would ever see Dad again. But, no matter what I wandered to, I always circled back around to Blake. I just… couldn't get that moment out of my head, despite my efforts to try and reconcile what more I wondered, the more it came to bother me. No, bother wasn't the right word for it, I wasn't bothered by her actions. I was… Intrigued.

The last thing I remembered asking myself before I finally fell asleep was what I would do when we went back to Beacon.

* * *

**_Hi, How are ya? Been a while,I know, and I'm sorry. Life was not going my way for the longest time (u.u) But, the past is the past and now we have a whole new set of chapters in the works, coming in the next few weeks. This is an easy part for me to write so don't expect much delay in between. _**

**_Cheers Mates, and happy travels. ^_^_**


	19. Chapter 18

"Rika, up and adam, it's your watch."

"Mnhm… Fine…"

I was broken from dead sleep by Yang, who rocked my bedding slightly to wake me up. The skies were still pitch black, and the forest still quite awake all around me.

"What… What time is it, Yang?"

"Four in the morning, you hold down the fort until Seven. Do us a favor and wake us up on time, would you?"

"H-hai, sure thing. Ugh, sleeping in this thing has my back friggin cramping up, my legs feel pretty achy too. Did it rain, by the way? I feel pretty wet."

Yang simply shook her head, and made her way back over to the branch where her bedding lay. As I regained my balance in the hammock and made sure I was awake enough to avoid falling to my death, I took a look around me, noticing at the same time the unmistakable chill that had descended upon the air. Even with my thermo-dynamic clothing I could feel it blow through me. It couldn't have been more than twenty degrees. Granted, we were still in the throes of winter, but the fact did nothing to discourage my body from detecting such changes in weather. Either way, my lower half especially felt cold and numb, which were both bad things given the fact that I needed them to climb down the damn tree and hold out at the bottom. I tried rubbing them down a bit, but when I put my fingers in them, I noticed that an oddly viscous fluid coated the fabric of my pants. I brought the fluid to my face for closer inspection, but in that moment I noticed the strong smell of iron in the air. Suddenly, I didn't feel the need to look at it anymore. My pants were coated not in rainwater, but in blood.

"Yang! Come here, quickly!"

"What, what happened?!"

Nearly breaking the tree in half on her way over, Yang appeared next to me in the blink of an eye, visibly distressed and glowing a little bit.

"Yang, I think I'm bleeding! My pants are covered in blood, and I don't have any idea if I'm hurt or not!"

"Alright, alright, just stay calm. Let me see your legs, swing them over the side of the branch."

"What's happening, Yang?" Weiss had woken up rapidly and was now scrambling out of her hammock as Yang began to inspect me.

"Rika's bleeding, and I don't think her Aura is healing anything. Grab the trauma kit, quick!"

"Wait, wait, let me look at this. Rika's Aura should have healed it by no-"

Weiss had walked over to me anxious and panicked at first, but had descended into a more composed state when she saw me under the light of her torch.

"Rika… I'm going to ask you this, and _please _ try to not get weirded out here. Since you became a girl, have you… Well, have you had your period yet?"

"Eh, what?"

"You heard me, have you?"

"Well, no, but… Aren't there more obvious symptoms to something like that? Aches, cramps, a feeling like a Velociraptor is chewing your Vagina away?"

"What?"

"You know what I mean! It couldn't be so sudden, could it?"

"It can be, in some cases. Any kind of external wound you'd have would be healed over by now, but something like this…. Well, not even an Aura helps, sorry to say."

"Wait wait wait… So you're telling me I look like I've just been the victim of a mass murder because I'm _on my Period?!"_

I took another look down, retracing that familiar feeling of being both angry and confused at the same time that seemed to plague my very existence these days. Trying as hard as possible to keep whatever degree of composure I had left in me, I tentatively probed the flesh near the blood stains to see if I could utter some kind of response from my lower half other than numbness and cold. Lo and behold, the minute I pushed down, My crotch erupted into a lava flow of pain and burning. All of a sudden, the numbness changed into a kind of stinging and burning mix.

"Ay! That fukcing hurts!"

"W-well… It's kind of supposed to. I'm quite sure I don't need to explain this sort of thing to you."

Yang let out a deep sigh behind Weiss and laid back against the trunk of the tree while I sat with my legs draped over the side of the branch, still dumbfoundedly in pain.

"I didn't even bring a fucking change of clothes, great… Oh fuck me, of all the goddamn things that could happen, _this_ is what gets thrown my way. I'd almost rather be woken up by Beowolves."

"Shhh! Don't say that out loud, the forest has ears, you know!"

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Here, hand me my sack, I might as well get some meds going through me to dampen the pain."

"Wait! Don't take those, those are some heavy duty meds in there, that's why they're in the _Trauma Kit_ and not just an over the counter sort of thing. You need your wits about you while you're down there, and these will only serve to dull your senses. You're going to just have to tough it out, I'm afraid.

"Fucking really? _Helvete , det kommer att bli en och en halv bitch och … _ And I'm pretty sure I didn't know how to speak Swedish before just now."

"Swedish? Never heard of it, but with the way you've been, I wouldn't put it past you to have something like this spontaneously pop up every now and again. Who knows, maybe your mental revisions aren't obvious things, maybe they're more time lapsed. Either way, you should head down to the forest floor, we've been without a guard for quite some time now."

Nearly falling out of my bedding and losing balance, I swing myself painfully onto the branch holding me up, and made my way tentatively towards the trunk.

"Oh, right, sorry, I was so preoccupied that I forgot I had a job to do…"

"... *sigh*, just be careful down there, and holler if you see anything. You aren't exactly fit to be handling much on your own right now. We'll see you in a few hours, nighty night!"

"Yeah, you're telling me. Sleep well, you've earned it, I'd say."

With my forlorn exit, I descended the tree carefully as I could, down to the small sniper's nest Ruby had set up on the forest floor, a few feet away from the tree itself. It was mostly a large collection of leaves and sticks masses together in such a way that you could lay down underneath it and be invisible to the naked eye, while still retaining a 240 degree view of your surroundings. My hearing being what it was, I didn't need to do much with my eyes, but having night vision was still a boon in such a setting.

When I finally managed to find a position under my next that didn't make me go crazy from either discomfort or pain, a good half an hour had settled in. I held Arcturus at arm's length, keeping my scope up and poised to strike at anything hanging around near our camp.

Soon enough I settled into a routine of looking down my scope, shifting as quietly as I could to relieve my cramping, fighting my eyes open, and muffling a yawn. This became the solid repetition I followed until the sun began to rise, lifting the strain from my eyes. Sure, Faunus could see perfectly at night, but what the books kind of left out was that it was not an easy thing to keep up over time. We sleep just like anyone else, and looking around with Night Vision turned on was just another thing draining my batteries. I was quite sure being on my Period was doing me no favors either, but that was just something I would need to get over, it seemed. Nothing would abate my pains, and nothing could discourage my bleeding either. Both of these things became less noticeable over time as the night went on, into daytime, but they were never far out of my field of focus.

Soon, as the Sun amically set its pace towards the overhead position, I began to check my watch every second I could, growing anxious for seven to come along. Nothing had wandered near us during the night, which was more of a relief than I felt I deserved, but all the more welcome given the current state of affairs. Beowolves wandered the forest near my position, of course, but none seemed to detect my scent, or that of the others, and simply carried on their way. I managed to spy an Ursa in the distance, which sent off more red flags than I could count, but before I could sound any kind of alarm, it reversed its direction and wandered away, out of my sights.

Finally, when i saw the long awaited 7AM appear on my timepiece, I nearly burst out of my nest, and sprinted up to the tree, climbing as fast as I could towards my team. I had no problem with being quiet and calm for long periods of time, but doing so under pressure was no way to do it at all, and I was more than happy to end such a strenuous chore. As I neared the tops of the tree, I readied my lungs to wake up the happy sleepers in as loud a manner as I could.

"rrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRISE AND SHINE, BITCHES! SEVEN AM, TIME TO GET MOVING, IT'S A BIG DAY, BIG BIG DA-"

Before I could finish my wake up call, I was summarily silenced by the shock of three projectiles passing extremely close to my face, hitting the tree trunk behind me with enough force to make me lose my balance.

When I recovered, still wearing my expression of plastered on shock, I saw that three weapons were raised in my direction from the bunks of my team. However, the owners were still laying down, leaving only their arms raised. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang lowered their arms and rose almost like vampires to face me with expressions of sheer disgust on their faces. Blake, meanwhile, was still sound asleep, not so much as a peep had phased her.

Weiss was the first to begin her verbal lashings at me.

"If. You. EVER. Do that. Again. I. _Will. End. You._ Clear?"

Too scared to answer with words, I simply vibrated my head in a manner that I expected looked like nodding. Yang seemed to mirror Weiss' sentiment, bringing her firsts together and cracking her knuckles in a threatening manner. Usually, I could detect some kind of joking manner from them when they scolded me on something as trivial as this, but not now. All I sensed was pure anger.

"W-well… Good Morning?"

* * *

"Look, I told you I'm sorry about seventy fucking times by now, can we all just move on?"

"Nope. I was having the best of dreams when you caused a huge ruckus and broke me away from it. My unhappiness is on your head now."

"Yang, I'm sorry I interrupted your wet dream about Ren and Neptune making out with each other, but honestly it just seems kinda stupid that three friggin' hours later we're still here arguing about it."

"Seems perfectly logical to me, you just don't interrupt a girl's fantasies like that, it's one of the unwritten aspects of girl code, and it's nigh on treason to break it! I might just have to dip out on point guard for a while to make up for it…"

All I could do was throw up my hands in exhaustion and keep pace with everyone else as we continued on towards the objective. Yang had been going on about this all morning long, and no matter what defense I used, she still seemed keen on making sure I felt as shitty as possible about waking her up at the time I was supposed to anyways. It seemed that her sexual fantasies were more important than keeping scheduled to end the existence of a monster that was poised to possibly take out all of mankind within a one hundred click radius.

But, regardless, we marched onwards. The woods were growing progressively more and more red as we moved, indicating our nearing towards the Crimson sector or Forever Fall, the area where most of the S class Grimm of the area tended to congregate near, for whatever reason they might have. People said that the leaves of the trees were dyed with the blood of fallen hunters, but many scientists argue that the breakdown of Grimm in the area causes the shade of the trees instead. Either way, the result wasn't any less bleak.

Now, we were circling the same kilometer and a half, simply waiting for the Regalis to notice us, as we had no idea where it exactly was, only that it was somewhere nearby. My guess was that the plan was to simply be the bait and then turn on it. Less complicated than other plans, but really the only option we had. And so, we bushwhacked through the Crimson sector of Forever Fall making as much noise as we could, hoping a giant Arachnid would try to eat us in the process.

"Both of you are quite stupid, but Yang is providing essential support to the whole Baiting part of the mission, so I'm not inclined to tell her that she is wrong."

"You're great help, Weiss, really."

"Naturally."

*sigh* "... Blake, would you care to help me with this? I don't think I'm getting anywhere at all."

"Don't look at me, this isn't something I'm supposed to deal with. Besides, you two a-"

Blake abruptly paused mid sentence, going as rigid as a statue, and not so much as blinking.

"Woah, Blake, what's wrong?"

She did not answer me, and simply held her stance, not saying anything, now moving her eyes slightly behind her. We held the flank of the formation, so I was poised to believe that there was some kind of threat approaching. I moved as quickly as my arm could towards my holster, only to have Blake draw my attention with a soft click of her tongue.

"No, wait."

She said this in a subtone so quiet only her and I could have registered. I held my position, remaining as still as I could. I saw Blake's bow begin to twitch back and forth, telling me that she was tracking something that was making a sound far off in the distance. Blake nearly never depended on her enhanced hearing to this degree, only doing so in dire situations where the twitching of her ears would go unnoticed amidst the chaos of whatever was going on.

In short, it meant this was dangerous, whatever it was.

I waited, for a few seconds, and then Blake simply turned forward and shook her head.

"It's gone, whatever it was. It was big, and it was quiet, _really_ quiet. I had to strain more than usual to pick up on its sounds. But, once I did, it ran. It's intelligent enough to hunt us, and avoid being the hunted."

"The Regalis?"

"Maybe, I couldn't say for certain. I didn't hear it move, either. I only heard its breathing. The bottom line is, we aren't alone out here."

Weiss, Yang, and Ruby had noticed us turning our backs by now, and were moving back towards our position, but all of a sudden the three of them tripped, nearly in unison, and face planted onto the ground.

"Hey, what the..?"

I heard something akin to a cord tighten, and the three of them were sent flying into the air, in separate directions, until eventually they were out of sight, above the trees and away from Blake and I.

"Blake, stay put, the area is rigged!"

"I know. Something moved, southwest side, when they got taken. I don't like this, we're on it's playing field."

She was entirely right. We were by ourselves, in a dark forest, being hunted from a position of weakness. We had no plain options, and we didn't even know where the majority of our team had been taken to.

And we were next.

I could hear a low hissing sound behind me, maintaining a low drone, and not moving in position. It had found us.

"It moves fast, keep your eyes peeled."

I moved my arm towards Arcturus, and I felt something thin graze my wrist. No sooner than that was I dragged into the air by my arm, pulled at blistering speeds away from Blake as she screamed out my name. Where I was going was a blur to me, I was moving through the leaves too fast to see anything. I felt my ankle crack as it smashed into a branch, but I didn't feel the pain, probably from all the adrenaline in me. But, just as I was beginning to slow down, I slammed into the side of a tree, headfirst, and blacked out.

How long I was out, I couldn't tell. It was a flash for me, but when I opened my eyes again what I could see of the sun in the distance was beginning to set.

I was still groggy from my injuries, so my senses were still fuzzy and my thoughts slow. From what I could tell, I was somewhere dark and cold, and I couldn't move. I saw a mass of white in front of me, and it moved when I tried to move my limbs. I closed my eyes for a while, with the onset of a massive headache surging through me. I was certain my Aura was going ballistic right around now, but I couldn't see it if it was. After the surge of pain settled down, I tried to open my eyes again, and found them to be much more receptive than before.

Around me was a kind of hollowed out Earthen nest, smack in the middle of the forest. There were giant webs everywhere, and the white shading I had observed before was my personal cocoon, binding me to the center of the nest. I swiveled my head as much as I could, trying to get a whole view of the place, and what I saw chilled my already icy veins.

Behind me was what looked like some kind of execution table, riddled with Human and Grimm remains alike. The table was a steel grey, and was reminiscent of the stone that the Beacon tower was composed of. The only difference here was that it was lined with a weave of webs, and behind it sat the single largest Grimm I had ever laid my eyes on.

I managed to catch a glimpse of some kind of maw, but my peripheral vision couldn't get many details out of it. It was taller than any kind of Atlas weaponry that existed, nearly as twice as tall as a Paladin, and looked like it had enough armor to hold a tank shell at bay easily. The legs were hairy, and the claws dripping with some kind of viscous substance I wasn't too keen on acclimating myself with.

Seeing it sent my fear into overdrive, and I started thrashing as wildly as I could, trying to find some kind of weakness in its construction. All this served to do was tire me out and turn me over onto the ground, where I was met face to face with a skeleton. Mere inches from my face, the helmet of what was once an Atlesian soldier greeted me, ghastly jaw bones hanging down from the visor, some flesh still sticking to its lower cheekbone. I wiggled as hard as I could, trying to separate myself from my less fortunate compatriot in captivity, but all it did was move me a few inches downwind of his skull. When I looked to my side, I saw that he was missing his lower body, his spinal cord ripped near the lumbar…

"Jesus _fucking _christ someone FUCKING HELP ME!"

"More than happy to oblige, sweetheart."

I felt a gust of air brush my neck, and noticed a sudden slack in my binding. When I attempted to move my arms, I found that they were nearly free, but still sticking to the webs. With some struggle, I managed to free myself completely, tearing as much of the webs as I could from myself, and standing up to greet my saviour.

"So, you come into the Crimson Sector often, or is this a one time thing, missie?"

Standing before me, weapon raised and ready to go, was some man with grey and black hair, combed back, and wearing some kind of semi-suit accented by a heavy dose of 5 o'clock shadow and a matching cape. HIs weapon was some kind of heavy sword, which was a bit too intricate for me to gauge at the moment.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"We'll do a nice, formal bit later, but for now all you need to know is that I'm here to help you not die, and that your team sent me, now come on, we gotta move."

Not sparing a moment to explain anything, he grabbed my hand forcefully and began running in the opposite direction of the Regalis. I didn't spare any time to look back, but I had a feeling it was watching us. Eerily enough, it wasn't chasing us…

"The others are up ahead, and I called in the Bullhead. Come on, there's no time to waste, we have to go while it's dormant."

"Alright, alright, I get it. Wait, aren't we supposed to be killing this thing?"

"Change of plans, Ozpin's calling you all back in, fuck what Ironwood says. There's no way you five can handle this."

"_Thank You! _'Bout fuckin time someone realized that!"

"You're falling behind, keep up or you might end up dead."

Keeping pace with him wasn't easy, the man moved like a hurricane through the dense brush and fallen woods, but I did what I could to keep it. Dying horribly like the soldier wasn't part of any game plan that I had. As we ran, I began to hear faint gunfire, and the sounds of the Bullhead's gun, in the distance, heralding our evac.

"Thats our cue, come on, hustle!"

"What have I been doing this whole time!?"

"Complaining."

"Jeez, tell me how you really feel..."

"That if you go any slower we're both going to die, and that Ruby will never forgive me, because I promised to avoid just that, now _come on_, we don't have much time."

And so… I kept running.

I ran, and I ran, and I ran. We came across forded riverbeds, and I ran. We came across open fields, and I ran. We went back into the forest, and I kept fucking running for as long as my legs would let me. I kept my eyes locked not on my path, but on my mysterious saviour, because without him I was as good as dead, and that scared me. I didn't have my weapon, my beautifully crafted masterwork, and that scared me. All I could hear was gunfire, and that scared me. I felt a beady set of eyes always on my back, and that fucking scared me.

I ran, and I ran, and I was scared. I didn't think, because the last thought that went through my mind was, 'Run, you fucking idiot, or you'll die alone'.

I could die, and that scared me, so I ran.

I ran, and I kept running, until I could finally feel the powerful gusts of the Bullhead's engines. I ran until I felt the heat from its gun firing. I kept running until I saw Ruby and Weiss tag-teaming an Ursa. I kept running until I was strewn out on the floor of the Bullhead, heaving in as much air as I could, and collapsing under the weight of my exhausted panic.

I ran until I couldn't run anymore, when the doors of the Bullhead were finally closing, all of us gathered inside, safely away from whatever it was that was trying to kill us, be it Regalis or Ursa or fucking Earthworm.

Then, just as I was about to close my eyes, I felt an ever so slight tugging on my ankle, and I was more than scared; I was mortified. In a matter of milliseconds, I wasn't in the Bullhead anymore. After one second, I was caught in a vice grip, tendrils digging into my waistline, powerful claws trying to cleave me in two, and I was scared. I felt a hot, dark breath on my back, and I was scared. I looked into one of its thousand eyes, seeing not even a reflection in return, only darkness, and I was scared. My vision started to fade, my feeling starting to wane, my thoughts starting to break apart, and all I could do, was be scared.

I would die in fear, and I was scared…

My vision was nearly as empty as this beast's eyes, everything was slowly crumbling away to nothing, but I wasn't scared. No, I couldn't feel anything anymore, all I could feel was my slowing heart beat, and the vibrations from my flattened bones.

When I looked with one last weak glance at the eyes before me, they seemed to have new meaning. They seemed to say, "I am the precursor of what you will become, nothing. The last thing you will see is this darkness, the one that will take you away to infinity." All I could hear was crackling bones and loud hissing, but I swear those words, in one way or another, reverberated around in my skull for a time. I almost believed them, with whatever was left of my Heart and Soul.

"NO, SHE'S MINE!"

But then my Hero came to save me.

I felt the claws loosen their grasp on me, and I was drawn back from the brink of consciousness to feel that grounding gut draw of falling. I didn't feel my body hit the ground, but I knew that's where I was, I could feel a tree root or a rock pressing against my tail. I saw the large black mass that I supposed was the Regalis recoil and retreat, still facing me, but stunned by something. I writhed on the forest floor for a few moments, not feeling the pain but beginning to panic at my inability to control any of my limbs. I was scared again.

I saw the usual black wisps of my Aura begin to churn, all over my body, and even coming up to my face, which had never happened before. My vision was almost completely blinded, and then...

Then, my Hero came to take me home.

"Easy, now, don't try to move. You likely have spinal damage, and anything you do will only make it worse. And, also…"

She bent down and pressed her lips against mine, locking us in a sloppily one-sided kiss between us, then pulling away from it, tears beginning to run down her face, skewing my view of her Ice blue eyes, tainted only otherwise by a simple vertical scar.

"If you _EVER_ put me through that again, I swear to Oum I'll stop loving you, do you hear me?!"

Too stunned, and too damaged, to do anything other than attempt some sort of feeble nod, I simply followed her advice and tried not to move. Weiss create a glyph underneath me, easily lifting me off the ground, carrying me back towards what I imagined was the Bullhead. I stared into her for a while, not quite sure what else to do. My body felt broken, and my soul was even more so, and yet my heart felt more alive than ever before.

So, it only seemed fitting that Fate would do me the favor of destroying what little left of life I had left in me. It was sudden, like much that had transpired this afternoon, and left me on the ground, starting to feel slightly queasy, and putting me into what felt like Cardiac arrest. Weiss stood next to me, arms limp, eyes wide, legs touching the ground yet not bearing weight. A stinger the size of a baseball bat protruded from her dress, severing the harmony of her outfit by sticking a giant, black spear through her stomach. Slowly, she was lifted up, away from me, towards the maw of the Regalis. Then, I was once again grasped in its mighty claw, resuming my strangle hold.

The thing brought Weiss and I face to face, mere feet apart. She simply hung in the air, twitching and convulsing, save her head, which remained eerily still. She was trying to scream, yet nothing came out of her mouth. The beast held me loose this time, so that my vision was not totally obscured. I was held there, fifty feet in the air, as another stinger came up in front of Weiss, then ever so gently entered her eye socket. It was painstakingly slow, it couldn't have gone in more than a millimeter a second, but soon enough the entirety of it was inside her. Weiss was twitching rapidly, unable to control herself and unable to stop this thing from doing whatever it was that it was doing. I could do nothing either. I was helpless. I was weak, nothing.

It knew I was weak, and it knew I would suffer by watching my hero be tortured.

I was no Huntress, I was a fool playing a child's game, and playing the price for it. That price was someone who loved me, suffering before my very eyes. The sight made me sick, and nearly cut off my vision.

The Regalis was resuming its death grip on me, seemingly eager to finish me off while I was most vulnerable. Then, came the sweet embrace of Death, handed to me on a silver platter…

All of this made me sick. I was furious, I was grieving, I was terrified, I was likely going to die.

I was helpless, and I hated it.

There was this flash of light, a great grey gleam, before my eyes, and then suddenly it was all reversed. My crushed bones mended themselves, sockets rolled back into place, senses restored to their normal order. The Regalis' claw was no longer clutched around me, yet I remained exactly where I was in the air, simply levitating. My body was covered in the viral black shroud of my Aura gone haywire, yet something was different this time. Instead of being inhibitive, it seemed to mesh with my skin, my clothing, everything on me, completely. It was like I was wearing an exoskeleton of darkness. Then, I saw Weiss laid out on the ground below me. She was broken, battered, bleeding, and nearly broken in two.

Every ounce of rage and terror I felt in that moment seemed to explode from me, rushing out and flying free in every direction, unbound and free. I remember a kind of glow coming from my arms, not quite being sure what that meant either. I remember looking in the direction of the Regalis, seeing it recoil and flail. I remember channeling every emotion I could possibly feel in that moment, and turning it into rage.

"You. _Die._"

I did more than say it. I willed it, I commanded it, I ordered it, to die. I saw vast rods of Dark light careen toward it, and impale it in various angles. I remember them exploding, and tearing off whole chunks of the beast, laving it cleaved in half, lying on the forest floor like a rock. After that everything went black again. I had no energy, no will, nothing.

I fell, and I didn't care if anyone caught me.


	20. Chapter 19

It seemed that I would never escape hospitals. It was like I naturally gravitated toward them, as if they were calling to me, begging me to come inside and stay awhile. When I awoke, the familiar environs of the Beacon hospital were all around me, as well as, more importantly, people.

I did not feel groggy, did not have any kind of ache or pain, I wasn't even sure if I needed to be in a hospital bed, and yet there I was, hooked up to an IV and a respirator, just like good old times.

I opened my eyes as soon as I awoke, minus the usual sensory misconfiguration I usually had as a side effect of injuries. Before me was a small group, more than I thought allowed in a Hospital room, but they were there nonetheless.

"Ahem?"

My teammates instantly turned their head toward me, eyes riddled with shock, at once stunned and gleeful. And, seemingly in unison, they swarmed upon me, getting as close to me as possible without obstructing the equipment around me.

"Holy fucking Oum, Rika, you're alive!"

"Of course she's alive, she doesn't even have any injuries!"

"We thought you were dead when you got pulled out of the Bullhead, and when we all saw you in the claws of that thing…"

"It broke the door too, we couldn't get out, all we could do was watch, but then Weiss…"

Holy _shit_, Weiss

"Where is she?! Where is Weiss?!"

The three before me suddenly went silent, looking away from me, trying to not look directly at me. But, I knew better, and I knew exactly what their silence meant, what truth the tears quickly forming in their eyes held.

"No… Please, _please _ tell me she isn't dead. She can't be, not after that… Not after she told me…"

"No, she isn't dead, not even close. A Schnee is too stubborn to die." consoled Blake

"No, not dead, but she isn't… Well, your definition of alive can vary, I guess."

I was more and more confused as they talked to me, nothing was making any sense, and now _I _ was starting to cry.

"Cut the bull, you three, and answer me straight. _Where is Weiss?!"_

Yang looked over to Ruby, and she to Blake, all of them looking perplexed and afraid, but slowly nodding. Blake left my side and moved slowly over to the curtain that split the room in half, pulled it back slowly, and revealed the bed behind it. In that bed, was a mess of tubing, wires, and metal rods aligned over the top of some humanoid form. The curtain, when it was finally pulled back all the way, revealed the head of tangled white hair that resided at the top of the bed. That hair belonged to Weiss.

"Dear Christ… What's happened to her?"

Blake walked back over to me, sitting just to my right, but not blocking my view of the crumbled form of my teammate.

"Her spine was snapped in two, her legs were crushed by the fall, and her arms compound fractured. Her Aura broke the minute she was grabbed, and her healing factor hasn't picked up again either. Her lower body underwent reconstructive surgery yesterday, when we arrived, and now she's recovering as best she can... They had to remove her legs too."

"What!?"

"From the kneecap down. The bones were crushed to powder, there was nothing they could do to save them. She'll be fitted for a prosthesis when she wakes up. And her eye…"

"What about it?"

"The retina is damaged, and her cornea is destroyed, so she probably won't have any vision in her right eye. They found traces of a neurotoxin in her eye, but not the kind usually attributed to a Regalis. It's something... Different. We don't know what it's doing to her, besides paralyzing her and keeping her adrenaline levels high, but even that we aren't sure on. This stuff is a mystery, and there isn't any known treatment for it. The lab division has been working day and night to try and synthesize a cure, but the progress is slow."

I leaned forward, stressing my respirator tubes slightly, and gazed on Weiss' bandaged face. Even on the brink of death, she had a way of looking serene and superior at the same time. The bandage running diagonally across her face was stained black with blood, and sunken into her socket slightly. I looked toward her legs, and saw the same black blood staining the bed sheets where her stumps supposedly laid. The sight, all in one picture, was horrifying. I felt sick to my stomach all over again, just like…

"Wait, what happened after I got pulled out of the cabin? What did you see?"

"You mean besides Weiss almost tearing the bay door off its hinges to come and save you? Chaos" said Ruby.

"We saw bright flashes of light, we saw the Regalis explode, and we saw you hovering in the air… No, that's not right." said Blake, correcting herself. "We never saw you, we only saw some kind of dark outline. To us, it looked like some kind of shadow, and then, when the Regalis exploded, the shadow faded, and you were left in its place, falling to the ground beside Weiss."

"I-I still have no clue what happened out there… Everything just feels like a tired blur, not even like a solid memory…"

"You've been through a lot, no one here thinks you haven't deserved some rest. But, we felt it would be bad if you woke up alone next to…"

"Next to some semblance of Weiss? Yeah, good call on that one, thanks. But, please don't go. I've had quite enough of being alone for a while thank you very much."

"As much as I would condone that sentiment, Miss Clarence, I would ask that it wait for a time."

Ozpin appeared quietly in the doorway, halfway in and halfway out, holding his ever-present coffee and cane respectively. He wore a more sullen expression than his usual indifferent smirk, bearing a mood of silent judgement.

"Girls, if you would, I wish to talk to her alone, while this is still fresh. I will not be long, I promise."

Ruby paused for a moment, maybe trying to say something against that, but then simply looked at me, for some kind of permission.

"Go on, don't worry."

Ruby nodded slightly, then turned back to Ozpin.

"Okay, Professor. We'll be waiting."

My team rose slowly, and strode out of the room. The same as before, Blake remained in the doorway, looking back with a worried expression, but this time she did not pause for long, and simply exited, closing the door with a soft click behind her.

Ozpin came to me, and sat in the chair on my left, placing his mug on the table beside him, and leaning toward me, adopting a more serious expression, rather than a sad one.

"It would seem the last two days have been quite interesting, haven't they?"

"Heh, more than you could imagine, my friend."

"Then I imagine you would expect General Ironwood to be _very_ interested in your performance."

Ironwood was the last person I felt like discussing, considering the fact that he thought I was nothing more than some kind of breathing super-weapon and nearly killed two people to prove it.

"I owe Ironwood _nothing_, Ozpin. As far as I'm concerned, he's the reason Weiss is laying here like a broken Rose, and I have nothing to say to him."

"I'm afraid it's not that easy. You are, by law, a citizen of Atlas, and by that he is the equivalent of your Highest commanding officer. He has the authority to do whatever he would ask of you, and more. In Atlas, the military and government are one, and they act with unity, and impunity."

"What, so he can throw away Weiss and I and nothing but sunshine and fucking Pansies for him, eh?"

"Do not be Brash. He is a man of action, and with your entry into this world, your power immediately became a possible tool of possibility for him. Whatever you did in Forever Fall, Ironwood wishes to use to regain control of the northern continent from the Grimm, and maybe even more. For him, this is everything. Weiss' injuries are of no concern to him, and he will likely wish to debrief you before long. But, I did not come here to discuss Ironwood and his motivations. I came here to discuss how you awakened your Semblance."

"What?"

"Come now, are you certain you already haven't reached that conclusion? Look at your arms, and see for yourself."

Doing as he suggested, I examined my arms, noticeably thinner than usual but nothing out of the ordinary about them.

"And?"

"You are visibly distressed, emotional, and triggered, and yet there is no presence of your Aura, as seen previously. Why do you think that is?"

"I-I… I don't know, why?"

"Because you can control it now. That display of raw power you exhibited in the forest was your Semblance, no doubt about it. I believe that your Aura was simply trying to send you a message all this time. Your emotions and your power seem to wax and wane in perfect sync."

"What, so my Aura has some kind of built in power meter that links up with my body?"

"Precisely. The more agitated you get, the more power you would manifest. Your Aura becomes charged, and when you deem it time, you release it, covering your body in a protective projection, using it for both defense and offense."

"So, what, my Semblance is some kind of anxiety-fueled Power Armor?"

"Precisely. From every report I have gathered of the incident, that would seem to be the most accurate description of your abilities. It would also seem that your Aura flares during emotional outbursts were simply your Semblance attempting to activate."

I was silent for a time after he said that, staring down at my body, trying my best to search for the most explosive emotions I could, trying to get my Aura to flare up again. But, it was to no avail.

"The Bullhead managed to capture footage of the event, and I must say, that for whatever reason Ironwood called upon your team for this mission, there is one thing he was right about: You have a power unlike any the world has ever seen. Even the maidens pale in comparison to your power."

"Maidens?"

"An old legend, one I may tell you some time. Four girls vested with the raw power of nature itself. But, even they did not have the power you possess. Even they never learned to harness darkness for their own."

"Darkness, eh? Man, now I'm feeling all poetical. A run down, weak little Faunus goes and befriends darkness, and gains the most fearful power in the history of mankind, ugh that sounds so damn dark, it kills me."

"Don't think this to be some kind of curse. A Semblance is a direct projection of your very spirit, your soul. If yours is the power to harness Darkness and wear it like a sweater, then all that means is that you have simply made friends with the darkness within you."

Ozpin stood, looking down at me not with the same stern, foreboding look, but with a more gentle, spirited one.

"Never be afraid of who you are, Rika. To try to deny that is to deny the world a perfectly good Faunus, one who happens to have made some very good friends very quickly, and one who is often underestimated. Keep your chin up, and never be afraid. I will contact you later on, and let you know when Ironwood will want to see you. Until then, I would think some rest would be in order."

"I hear you loud and clear, Professor, take my word for it, I don't plan on doing much."

He nodded gently at this remark, and walked calmly to the door.

"Oh, and regarding your house arrest orders from the council? You are no longer emitting the same levels of radiation you did before, and so the council has revoked all enacted statutes regarding your mobility. You are as free as a bird, Rika. Good night."

After dropping that news on me, he continued out the door. After all this time of being locked up like some kind of freak experiment, I was free… I felt normal again, or however normal one felt when they knew they were besties with the most synonymous symbol of Evil in existence.

"So… I'm a shadow charmer now, huh? God, this just gets better and better… Good thing I have friends like these…"

Looking over to Weiss as I spoke, my Heart hopped up into my throat, clogging it from further speech. This girl, lying broken and nearly dead on the bed next to me, had sacrificed everything for me, maybe even her life as a Huntress, and all for my sake. For someone who had never even had to share a simple pencil in her entire life, that could never compare to any kind of gift she could ever give me.

And it would have been the worst lie in the world to say that I did not love her for it.

* * *

I spent the next few hours simply sitting in the bed, wasting the time away by chatting with Ruby and Blake. Yang had a close quarters seminar for the majority of the afternoon and had to dip out for a few hours, but I didn't mind much. As long as I wasn't left alone, I was content.

Ruby sat in the chair to my left, Blake sitting cross legged at the end of the bed, both looking a bit more relaxed than before, when they likely thought I was comatose.

"So, how long do you think I'll manage to stay out the hospital this time around? A week? Three weeks? I'd like to think that I could last at least a month."

"Don't even joke about that sort of thing. The last thing we need is karma coming along to drag you back here again." chided Blake.

"Mhm, I agree. I mean, it _has_ given the five of us more time together, but to be honest I'd rather not bond over someone being mortally wounded, y'know?"

"Yeah, I can get behind that. I don't think the five of us have had a single day together just to relax and do something, I don't know, fun, since I've gotten here. Battles here, coursework there, a few near-death experiences, the good stuff. But, I don't think we've done anything really… Normal."

"Like what, might I ask?" inquired Blake.

"Oh, I don't fuckin' know. Video games, gossip, going out to eat, watching a movie, shit people who don't risk their lives every day to save humanity do."

"Ooooh, I see now! Things that don't involve guns and Grimm, right?"

"Yeah, that's it. Although, I don't know about you, but some of the most relaxing things I have ever done involve guns, so maybe just the Grimm I can go without."

"Speaking of guns, Rika, we weren't able to find yours anywhere on the Bullhead. We think it got lost after the Regalis pulled you away from Blake."

I had been wondering about Arcturus, especially since it had still been nowhere to be seen. But, even if it had survived the Crimson Sector, weapons were not permitted in the Hospital, so I wouldn't have had access to it either way.

"So, the weapon you made for me is gone, just like that?"

"Not quite" said a gruff voice from the doorway.

In that doorway stood the haggard stranger who had saved me in the forest, the one who was sent by Ruby. He stood here now chugging down something from a flask, with something strapped to his back.

"You…"

"Yep, me. I _did_ say we would do a formal meet and greet, didn't I? But first, I think this belongs to you."

He brought the object tied to his back around to his chest in one fluid motion, and flung it at me. I caught it clumsily and nearly dropped it when I felt its weight. It was loosely covered in a burlap wrap, and when I unraveled it, I came across the same sheen I first laid eyes upon in Port's lecture hall. Although it was heavily stained and dulled from this time in the wild, I had no trouble recognizing the weapon Ruby had toiled over for my sake.

"H-how did you get this?"

Finishing a swig from his flask, he looked at me and shot a small shrug my direction.

"Was on the ground. Picked it up, figured it looked expensive. Glad I did, now, or else Ruby might have killed me."

"He's right, I would have."

"So, uh, how do you two know each other, exactly?"

"I'm her uncle. Name's Qrow, by the way."

"Woah, wait, so _you're_ Qrow? The one who taught Ruby how to use a Scythe?"

"The one and only, sweetcheeks, and don'tchu forget it. And, just a word from the wise: Don't believe everything Oz tells you, he tends to exaggerate things."

"He hasn't said anything to me about you, actually, and I almost thought you were a myth, nothing more."

"Heh heh, sadly I'm no myth, and even more unfortunate is the fact that I continue to be haunted by this horrible demon, who constantly assaults me, day in and day out."

"Demon?"

"Yeah, a De-"

"_**QROW BRANWEN, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? I WILL **__**CASTRATE**_ _**YOU WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOUR SORRY, DRUNKEN ASS!"**_

Before Qrow could finish his lamentary self description, I heard what sounded distinctly like a Demon's screech sound out from outside the doorway, making me jump a bit.

"Aaaaaand, that would be said Demon, my girlfriend…"

Before I could even begin to form a sentence, the door behind Qrow nearly split in two and flew open, revealing the source of all the ruckus. When I first looked at her, I somehow knew she was related to Weiss, somehow. She was tall, easily as tall as me, with heeled boots, a bare shouldered dress shit, and some kind of formal uniform modified for combat and drenched in white dye. Her hair was drawn back, with a simple wisp coming down over her right eye like a pure white eyepatch. In her gloved hands she wielded two gleaming rapiers, both pointed directly at Qrow's chest. Right now, she looked about ready to eat him alive. She reminded me exactly of Weiss, with more experience and a bit more heft in her chest.

"Winter, honey, look, I already told you, I did all that I-"

"_**Shut up! **_To think that I fucking trusted you with the safety of my sister, _**my little fucking sister**_, and now she's lying there, nearly dead and crippled. What the fuck do you think you were doing out there, having a fucking tea party with an Oum damned Ursa?!"

Qrow took a step toward Winter, bringing his hands out toward her, looking extremely worried.

"No, it's not like that, I swear to Oum, if you would just let me tell you-"

"No more talking. Your words mean dog shit to me. I want you head on a pike for what you did to Weiss, and I intend to sever it from your still breathing body."

"Woah, woah, easy there, love, no need to get all carnivorous on me, we can settle this civilly, like humans."

Winter seemed to not be interested in anything else he had to say, and crossed her weapons across her chest, looking down. Then, faster than I could comprehend, she charged at him, pinning him to the wall at the far right end of the room. Her swords pinned Qrow to the wall by his neck, making him crane it as much as he could to avoid being gutted.

"Fuck. Civility." I heard her whisper, her voice quavering. "Only a monster could let this happen, so that's exactly how I'm gonna treat you. I'll do exactly to you what you let happen to her, so you can see _exactly_ how it feels. I think I'll start with the nice, big hole in your stomach, then, work my way down…"

Winter readied her smaller blade to gouge him through the liver, using a dramatically slow drawback. Intending to stop her, I brought Arcturus up to aim, hoping to God there was still some ammo inside it, and taking as quick of an aim as I could, and firing. I only hoped it would be enough to stall her.

The shot landed just a few inches above Winter's head, shocking her back into reality, and causing her attention to shift over to me, with a glare that was maniacally determined to end all of us if need be.

"Winter, back off, now!"

I wasn't quite sure what else I could do in the situation, but this was the only leverage I had, and I needed to use it if I ever wanted to thank Qrow while he was still living.

"Ha! You don't scare me, little mongrel. What, gonna shoot me? Stop me from killing the big, bad, drunk idiot, and be a hero? Don't make me laugh."

"I _am_ going to stop you from killing Qrow, you know why? Because he isn't the reason Weiss is like that… I am. She's like that because she risked saved my life."

"Hoho, so _you're_ the rat who brought my sister to this, huh? Well, why don't I just kill you both? I can off two vermin with one, swift-"

"W-winter…"

She froze up, suddenly and completely, as we all heard the smallest, pin-drop of a whisper come from the bed next to mine. The heart monitor next to it was going crazy, and was reading something close to 200 beats per minute. In the bed, the sheets over Weiss shifted ever so slightly as she attempted to move a hand in Winter's direction. She was awake.

"_**Weiss!**_"

Winter dropped her weapons on the ground and ran to her side, forgetting all about Qrow and I, and even Blake, who had readied her own weapon to fight Winter if the need arose.

"Weiss, oh dear Oum, you're alright. Oh, oh dear Oum… Your eye…"

"Winter… T-there's something… I have… I have to tell…."

"What, what, what is it? Tell me!"

Weiss was growing green in pallor, sweat beginning to bead on her face, and her heart rate not slowing. Her eye bandage was beginning to ooze under the new pressure of her consciousness as well. Winter must have sensed this, and bent her head down to her mouth, so that she would not have to strain herself. Whatever she said, it was too weak for even I to hear it. The only word I could make out from her mouth was "her".

Winter must have felt every single word, though, as her eyes went wide and mouth closed, then opened, then closed again. She stood, looking down at Weiss with this dazed expression, leaving the rest of us on edge and tense, not sure whether to be running away or staying.

"W-well, what did she-"

"Shut up. Not another word. All of you, get out. But not you" she commanded, pointing at me, wearing a serious mug, but not a crazed one. Qrow nearly ran out of the room, but Winter dashed in his way before he could exit, catching him by the neck, and dragging him towards her until they were face to face, not much more than an inch between them, and bringing him into a heavy kiss, then throwing him towards the door while he attempted to regain his balance. Ruby and Blake, both too confused and confounded to argue her, followed in his path. Winter followed close behind them, closing the nearly broken door behind them then casting a glyph on it, sealing it completely. Then, she turned her now softened gaze to me.

"What's… going on?"

"Look at her, look at her, damn you!"

I turned my head to face Weiss, seeing her visibly exhausted and breathing heavily, still not looking anywhere near okay.

"This girl… No, this _woman_, is Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust company, Huntress -in- Training, Sergeant First-Class of the Atlesian Military, and my little sister."

She did not look at me, at all, and kept her gaze on Weiss, as she fell further and further into her coma again.

"I have known her since her birth, and I know she is spoiled. I know she is demanding, lacking in social skills, has a superiority complex, and refuses to acknowledge anyone lesser than her. And, I happen to know that no matter what she tells my father, her guilty pleasure has always been the Faunus."

She was still staring at Weiss, dreamy as can be, but I was glad for it that she didn't see me blushing.

"My little sister is… a difficult person, at the best of times. At the worst of times… I'm not even sure if she can be qualified as a person. She is someone who has lived her entire life under the ruling thumb of our father, and beyond that expected to retain the royal graces from which our family descends. She is expected to be a lady, first and foremost, and an Heiress whenever else. But… She threw all of that away by coming here. She surrendered her rights to our family's fortune beyond one single credit card, and hasn't taken a call from Father since she came here. For all that she is, Weiss is nothing but strong willed and fiery. And, no matter what the world says about her, she is my sister, and nothing but."

Winter's rant was revealing, slightly, and seemed more like a monologue to herself than to me. She almost acted like I wasn't even in the room with her.

"She is my sister… But now I can't even protect her… Now, I have to let someone else protect her…"

At last, she shifted her gaze to me, growing more intense as she moved from Weiss' side to mine. She stood over me with clenched fists, her breath growing faster.

"You…"

She picked up one of her swords from the ground and brought it to bear under my chin, making me press as far up against the backboard of my bed as I could.

"Like it or not, _you_ must protect her now, because I am no longer able to. Now is not the time for her sister to stand over her and keep her safe. Now… Now she must be kept safe by the one she loves…"

"W-what?"

"She loves you, did you know that? Probably not, because she would never have told you if you hadn't gone and tried to get yourself killed. Weiss is an easy catch, she doesn't need much to fall for someone, but something is different with you. She has never acted on her feelings for anyone never once before now. But, for whatever the reason, she believes in you."

"I-I… I…."

"No, don't speak, that would only make things complicated. Weiss loves you enough to sacrifice everything she knows in order to keep you alive and lucid. Right now, she is in no position to confront these feelings. But, when the time comes, you must make the decision of whether or not you think you are worthy of these feelings. Only you can decide that. But no matter what your choice is...Never take her for granted, ever…"

With that, Winter removed her blade from my neck, sheathing it, and turning her back to me. She dispelled the glyph over the door, allowing it to simply fall off of its hinges, and walked out. I do not know what became of her, as she said nothing as she proceeded down the hall. Blake and Ruby came back in, flanked by two nurses who were nearly calling the police to dispel a hostage situation.

"Dear Oum, we thought someone was trying to kill someone in here, after we heard the gunshots especially." one of them said to me, poring over Weiss' monitors, trying to get her heart rate back to normal.

"No, not quite… Although, I think we should just let it go for now. We've all had a trying few days, and I'm not willing to get caught up in another lawsuit…"

"W-well… Alright, if you insist. I just hope they didn't upset Miss Schnee's recovery. She is in a bad enough state without some wacko coming in and sabotaging her."

The three of us simply sat and watched the two as they performed their duties, too shocked into silence to say much else to each other and too exhausted by the stress of the last day to try and do anything meaningful. The nurse finally removed my IV, noticing that I was eating solid food again, and gave me permission to stand and walk for a while if I so chose. But, being too stunned to really think, I turned down the offer.

I looked over at Weiss once again, diverting my attention from the nurse as she ran about like the energizer bunny, and as I gazed my eyes fell upon her face, as usual.

This time, however, instead of a pained, tense grimace there was something else.

Weiss wore a sly smile on her face, blissfully unaware of all else but the fact that I knew she loved her.


	21. Chapter 20

"Alright, are you sure you've got everything now? Scroll, weapon, clothes?"

"Blake, really, I had close to nothing on me when I came here anyways, why so worried?"

"There's nothing worse than leaving something behind, and you know it! I'm just trying to prevent that from happening."

"Thanks, but I think I can manage keeping track of the three items I have that weren't destroyed."

Blake had been on my case all morning about not leaving anything behind, but honestly it was just starting to get redundant now.

My real outfit had been destroyed after the episode with the Regalis, but Yang was nice enough to bring me one of my spares from my closet, so I felt right at home again in my clothing. My ankle was still a bit sore from all of the times it had been broken this week, but other than that my body was rejuvenated, and I was nearly back to normal Aura levels. My Aura still remained ludicrously strong, despite my lack of emotional flares, and I considered the fact that I no longer posed an immediate threat to anyone I walked near a severe positive in the long run. I could only hope that Weiss would recover enough to keep going with my lessons. Like it or not, her lessons definitely helped me survive the Regalis encounter, and I was eager to continue.

Now, the day after waking up, I was setting a new record for myself in discharge times as I walked towards the exit of the room, which had since been repaired after Winter's rampage. I made for the door with Blake in tow when, yet again, something appeared in front of the door. This something was draped in a dull grey robe, and looked down at the floor, almost not acknowledging my presence.

"Elodie? What are you doing here?"

"Came to see."

"Who? Me?"

She nodded dutifully, still not looking at me. To be honest, in all of the constant motion and fear of death that had accompanied the last few days, I had totally forgotten that I was supposed to be watching out for Elodie.

"Cinder's not mad. Won't leave for a while."

"Oh… Well, that's good I guess. Soooo… I'm actually on my way out, if you want to tag along…"

Her head shot up as I said this, her eyes going ablaze as she looked up at me, then off to the side. She pointed behind me, and said, simply, "Awake."

My head turned on a dime, and when I looked back I saw Weiss' upper body shoot up from her pillow and begin to dry heave. She had yet to make a sound, other than the scratchy rasp of her heavy breaths.

Blake did not move from her spot, too shocked, maybe, but I sprinted as fast as I could to her side, taking her hand and looking right into her eye.

"Weiss! Weiss, look at me, look at me Weiss!"

Hey eye darted from side to side, never focusing in one place, but quivering like it was trying to regain control of itself. Her heavy breaths continued, as she turned her head rapidly, she attempted to pull the various tubes and connectors out of her body. I tried my best to stop her, screaming for a Nurse the entire time, but it seemed none were nearby. Her motions were frenzied, choppy, and uncoordinated, like she was randomly flailing about with a purpose. I'd never seen anything like it.

"Weiss! Calm down, everything will be fine, but you _can't_ take those out! They're what keeps you alive right now!"

She did not listen and kept trying to shake off her life support. For someone on their deathbed, she had remarkable strength, keeping me fairly occupied with preventing her self-destruction. Suddenly, I remembered a binding technique Yang had taught me, and put it to practice as quickly as I could. I seized both of Weiss' arms, and pinned them against her chest, making careful pains to ensure none of her breathing tubes kinked or clogged in the process, and pressed as firmly as I could to keep her restrained.

"Blake! Help me and get her legs!"

Blake came free from her daze as I screamed her name and rushed over to the bedside. Moving quickly, she took hold of Weiss' legs, well, whatever was left of them, pinning them to the bed, preventing her from kicking out her stitches. Weiss continued to thrash for some time after that, leaving Blake and I malcontentedly fighting her for survival. Our words were useless, so I instead focused my energies on making sure she did as little possible to sabotage her recovery.

After what felt like ten, easily twenty minutes a nurse came to our aid, flustered and panicked. She hastily ordered us to move aside and set about administering Weiss something from a concealed syringe. I imagined this would keep her awake while making sure she couldn't flail about as she wished. Within seconds her motions slowed and came to a halt, limbs coming back down to her sides, and heart rate dropping steadily. Her eye dilated heavily, and her jaw became slack. As easy as flipping a switch.

"She'll be fine." the nurse told us in the midst of her hyperventilation. I bet our concerns were as easily discernable as Weiss' lack of legs.

"What the fuck happened?"

"She woke up again, but this time the Regalis poison triggered a hyperactive state, sending her into Cardiac arrest and overflowing her sensory nervous system. With the relaxer in her system she won't be able to move for a few hours, and hopefully the poison will go dormant again in that time."

"God, how long does the stuff stay in her system for?"

"The relaxer stays active for three hours, then drops off steadily for another few hours until it is passed through the liver. The Poison… We aren't quite sure yet. The Toxicologists are still working on some kind of antivenin for it. It's not the normal Regalis strain, thank Oum, so she won't be permanently paralyzed, but we aren't sure what else it could be either. This is just how it will be for some time still."

I looked down at Weiss again, looking quite dead, but still visibly breathing, still alive, even if only on the inside for now. Her eye rolled back up into her head, and the twitches that defined her movement had ceased, seemingly receding into her body as well. It hurt to see her so badly broken, to see my Hero unable to sit there and see the fruits of her labor. It hurt to see someone I loved dying in front of me.

"Dearie?"

The nurse next to me snapped me out of my internal anguish, and brought me back to the reality behind it.

"O-oh! Yes, what did you say?"

"I said, you should head upstairs, Mister Arc has finally woken up, and he has requested you."

"What!? Jaune woke up?!"

"Y-yes, about one hour ago…"

I didn't need to hear anything else out of her, and instead sprinted out of the room without Blake, running towards the stair well. I threw open the door to it with such force, I was fairly certain that the hinges on it collapsed, and without breaking strides bounded up the stairs to the fifth floor, where Jaune's ICU was located. Not even once did I consider the fact that I had left Blake all alone with the equivalent of a brain dead body either…

I stood at the door of Jaune's room, at once eager and anxious, squirming slightly and picking at my face, both nervous habits I was often prone to. The nurse had neglected to tell me that his room was under lockdown until his physical tests were completed. I, for one, was quite okay with waiting until he was 100% stable to talk with him. The last thing I needed was another botched conversation or moment interrupted by a life threatening incident. I could hear the doctors within rushing about and asking him questions, but his responses were too soft for me to pick up on, even with my ears pressed against the door.

I waited for some time before three men exited the room, not paying me any mind, and closing the door behind them. I picked it up before it could close fully, and slid into the room without them noticing. I wasn't quite sure what I was hiding from, but I for some reason felt that I would be better off without alerting anyone to my presence.

Once inside, I heard the door softly click closed behind me, and I took a deep breath before I walked over to the bed where Jaune laid. It wasn't the first time I had visited him, but all the other times I had he was undoubtedly unconscious and still recovering from the Machine Gun fire Winfield's men had laid down on us. But, his wounds were nothing like mine to begin with, so a comparison isn't even fair. Unlike me, his remained open and festering for some time, never forming the pus-filled boils that plagued me for days. No, his Aura, being much weaker, never tried to reject the poison laden on the rounds, but simply succumbed to its effects, destroying his regenerative capacities and ensuring his near-death state.

Apparently the fool tried to block some of the fire by dashing in front of me before the rounds started firing. The sorry sod didn't get much for his efforts besides a tube down his throat and an extended stay in the ICU. Now, I stood looking over him in his bed, trying to imagine what the Hell was running through his head when he did that.

I ran my hand across his cheek, allowing myself a small smile as I examined his face. His looks retained their solidity quite well, and I could still see the color in his face that it held when we shared the bottle of Whisky in the restaurant that night. It all felt so far away now, like years and months had passed, when it reality I hadn't been in Remnant for more than two months. Winter was coming to a close sooner or later, and Spring rode on its heels. Soon enough, that frigid night where we both almost died would be nothing more than a sorry memory for both of us…

Jaune's eyes suddenly opened, making me withdraw my hand as quickly as I could. His eyes darted around for a few moments before they met with mine. He was shocked, easy to say, but then his gaze relaxed, and tears rose up from his relief.

"Rika..."

I didn't give him the chance to say more. I leaned down as quickly as I could and silenced him with a kiss. I was beginning to tear up myself, but I didn't let that stop me from embracing the moment. The kiss was shallow, and maybe a little bit done up, but for whatever reason it felt right. I grabbed his collar with my free hand and brought him in closer, deepening the contact we shared and bringing his warmth closer to my face.

I knew I still didn't love him, Hells I wasn't even sure if I liked the kid as a person. For all I knew, he was just some idiot who got a girl to ask me out on a date for him. But none of that mattered now. What mattered was that the man who bled beside me, who bled _for_ me, was safe and alive, and I could be there to welcome him back to the land of the living. He deserved that much. To deny him that would be as bad as shooting him in the head myself.

After giving him a chance to enjoy the moment, I released his collar and withdrew, standing back slightly and looking down at him. I couldn't describe exactly what it was that I saw in his face, but whatever emotion it could be called, I was proud to be there to see it.

"H-hey there, stranger…."

"Hi, Jaune. Welcome back to Remnant, have a nice trip?"

He weakly chuckled, brushing the tears that had formed out of his eyes with the one free hand he had.

"No, not really. I can't feel anything below my chest, my head feels as though it was about to explode, and… A girl just came in and kissed me. I'm kind of getting mixed messages here."

"Don't get your hopes up, Jauney-Boy, I'm still hella gay, and you're still you. No, think of that kind of as... A reward for my savior, if you will. Without you, I wouldn't have gotten back from almost getting killed again!"

"What? How long has it been since then?"

"Almost two weeks now. You took your sweet time, dream queen."

"Two weeks?! Dear Oum, how much work have I missed? How much has gone by? And Phyrra…"

"Easy there, lover boy, she came by to see you every day since you got back. And, I roughed up the professors a bit and got you excused from your work duties for a while, until you can actually hold a pen again. Kinda helps when I'm a professor too. But, even if I wasn't it would've been downright maniacal to demand you to make up two weeks worth of work in a day or two."

"You're telling me! I can barely handle things the way they were before, but now I'm not even sure if I can keep going…"

"Oi, didn't I say that I helped you out with this shit? Boy, you're lucky to even be alive and you're worried about homework!"

I turned around from him, crossing my arms and holding silence.

"Wait, why am I wrong? If I flunk out, I don't know what I would do with myself!"

I closed my eyes, sighed, and turned back to him, trying to look as fierce as I could so my point would get across.

"Jaune Arc, you are the only fucking person on the planet that cares more about his grades than the fact that he almost died. From now on, you should do yourself the favor of trying to survive training before you go and panic about classes."

Jaune opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again as soon as it opened. His eyes went down to the floor, his shoulders slumping. For the first time since I had known him, this was the first where Jaune had absolutely nothing to say. All it did was add to the situation's tension, and make him look more the part of the bedridden warrior.

There was nothing more that I could say that would better describe how I felt, so I took advantage of the silence to go about leaving the room. At the door I paused, and brought my head up again, but not turning back to him.

"The world has enough martyrs, Jaune. Dying in a blaze of glory does nothing but give the Grimm another kill to add to the millions they already have. Remember that."

With that I exited, leaving him to brood on the conversation until some nurse came by and put him to sleep again. I could certainly understand his feelings, they were almost identical to what I was feeling at the current moment. No one ever liked being left behind, but even still staying alive to catch up just seemed like something that anyone would ever think of.

I wondered to myself as I boarded the elevator to the lobby what exactly made him different. What was the source of his foolhardiness?

I wondered this the entirety of the ride down, until the doors opened, cracking through my haze and summoning me back to reality. No sooner than that I wished I had stayed in my haze.

"Oh, Rika, just the person I was looking for. Let's talk."

"C-cinder! W-what about?"

"Oh, you should know. But, let's go somewhere private, shall we? Too many prying ears here."

Cinder cut off my exit to the lobby, and forced me back inside while simultaneously pressing the button for the roof on the elevator panel. My heart rate was beginning to soar, for all of the obvious reasons, but what shocked me was that my Aura had not taken a chance to flare up yet. Then, suddenly remembering Ozpin's earlier words to me, the shock faded. But, nonetheless, the burn remained, and Cinder seemed to be aware of it, even if she wasn't looking directly at me.

"You seem tense. Had a rough week?"

"You're damn fucking right it's been a tough week, but that's' beside the point right now. What do you want? I have places to be, and up on the roof isn't one of them."

The elevator buzzer sounded, and the doors in front of Cinder opened. She walked calmly and elegantly,as usual, out of the cabin and continued on for a few feet, then slowly turned around, and stared me right in the eye.

"Rika, dear, why do you try my patience?"

"What the fuck are you talking about now, woman? Can't you cease your houndings for at least a day and let me deal with the shit I need to-"

A beam of heat seared past my hear, snapping me into silence, and creating a distinct sizzling sound in the wall behind me. I froze in place on the elevator, not daring to lean over and push the button for fear of being incinerated.

"I am, of course, talking about our _Deal_, my little furry idiot. While you were out in Forever Fall, hunting your precious little Insect, my sister was sitting in her dorm room, _alone_. Does that not strike you as odd, at all?"

"I couldn't exactly take her with me! _I almost died, Cinder_, and you want me to bring her out there, where the likelihood of the same happening to her is a thousandfold?"

"What I want, you little whelp, is for my sister to be safe, and it is your job to ensure that. She could have easily snuck out and gone hunting on her own the way she was left while you were gone, and I won't have it. Keep a better eye on your charge, or you may stand to lose said eye."

Before I could retaliate, Cinder summoned a column of flame around her, and as it dissipated her form blended into the falling flames and vanished. This left me all alone on that same roof, once again fearing for my life, ironically in a place where they were supposed to keep you far from Death.

"Heh, so much for Cinder not being mad at me…"

* * *

The concert hall was eerily quiet for a school day, but something about the silence was comforting to me. The hours of silence before an event were always my favorite when I did something that required a performance, and now was no different. The band was scheduled to reconvene this afternoon to commence further practice for the Atlas viewing during the Vytal festival, but the Armory had just finished the construction of the Jazz band's instruments, and I was putting them through their paces to ensure they were up to snuff. So far, Belmont's Alto and Blake's Tenor were very much up to expectations, and I had yet to inspect the Bari or the second Alto.

Clarinet and Tenor Sax shared a key signature, so assigning Blake to it was the logical thing to do. Belmont and Weiss were both skilled enough to recognize the differences between their main instrument their new ones, so assigning them the oddly pitched instruments was also the logical move. The only thing about this band that worried me was the trombones, Jaune in particular. I couldn't be too rough on him considering he was still recovering from his injuries, but if he was not up to par, then I would simply have to do without a fourth in the section. I thought of all of these things as I worked, both eager to hear the composition of my section and worried about the harmony of the band in general.

After running through the second Alto, I turned my attention to the Bari on the other side of the stage, gleaming with a dull shine against the low lighting I had set up. I had specifically asked for no finishes on the Saxes, for better sound, so all of them shared this dull copper color. I hefted the thing up onto my neck strap when I reached it, wet the reed and set it into place, and started playing.

The Armory was the best damn place in the world at that moment. The sounds I got out of that thing were among the most buttery smooth and concrete that I had ever remembered hearing, save for a few exceptions on Earth. Weiss would have no problem at all playing this thing, even if her embouchure was a complete wreck. No matter what position I placed my mouth in, the notes sounded pristine. It was a dream come true.

I removed the mouthpiece and simply stared at the Bari with what I imagined to be a look of wonder and excitement, before my alarm shocked me back to reality, alerting me of the five minute warning before everyone arrived. I rushed to put the Saxes behind the closed curtain, taking extra pains not to scuff the metals, or bend a key from an impact or something. Luckily, by the time the first student walked in, the section was safely hidden away.

In another ten minutes, the majority of the ensemble was assembled, ready as they would be to continue with the practice of Tchaikovsky's piece I had arranged. Jaune was noticeably absent, but that was no surprise. Cardin and his lot were surprisingly quiet, and seemed even eager to get going, and Weiss had managed to avoid me spotting her before she appeared in her seat, somehow.

I walked to the podium, tapping my baton and calling them to attention.

"Well, look at all of you, beating me to the punch. You've got the energy, that's good, you'll need it for the next few weeks. From here on out there's nothing between us and the Vytal Festival, nothing between us and our performance, so I want to see 110% out of all of you, clear?"

"Yes, Professor." they all answered, in some semblance of unison.

"Alright, good to hear. Open up to 189, I want to hear the low brass again in the septuplet riff, all the way through to the next page. Ready?"

Among the assorted nods and grunts, the low brass readied their instruments, in time with my baton and began playing I stopped them immediately.

"Right, so, when did the worldwide shortage start?"

"What?" Questioned Phyrra.

"Y'know, the Worldwide shortage on air, because _obviously_ that's the reason you all sounded like fucking pisspoor blowhards coming in. Oh, I'm sorry, I don't think there is one! So, do it over again, and use your damn lungs like your trainers taught you, eh?"

I raised my baton again, and counted them off. I stopped them instantly again.

"Euphonium, look at the key signature, and try again."

Another count off, another stop.

"Phyrra, your low A is flatter than my nan's tits. Get a tuner from Suarez and try it again after that."

Leaning over to the principal Trombone player, she tuned out the note, diagnosing the problem, then giving me a malcontented nod.

"Alright, you can't possible do bad four times in a row, so let's shoot for magic four. One, and a two, and a-"

Another cut.

"Oh, _fucking_ boy, this is gonna be a good day."

* * *

"Alrighty, now that the annoying people are gone, it's just us. Welcome, all, to the first session of Jazz 101."

I addressed the entirety of the Jazz Band from the podium, much more happy than I was for the majority of the normal lesson, and eager to get the band rolling. It was a mere three months until our performance time, and I was pressed enough as it was.

"For the next three months, until the Vytal festival begins, you will be here in this room, with the group you see here, every single day from the hours of Eight to Ten PM, no exceptions. Eat beforehand, get coffee, take a shit, I don't care what it is, but you _will_ be here, or you will not perform. I have no room for idiocy, so let me just get all of that squared away."

I looked out over the group, all of them either nodding in affirmation or grunting in acceptance.

"Now, on to the good stuff. Jazz is a much more free flowing art form than what you all know. There will be moments when you must synthesize a melody based purely on scales and chords, there will be moments where you will need to truly listen to everyone around you to clue you into what is going on, there will be times where there will be nothing but notes and rhythms, and all else is up for debate. Jazz is all about feel, and what we will be training for the next three months, if nothing else, is _feel. _What you need to feel at all times is a beat, coming from the Kit, the Piano, and the guitars. They are the lifelines of the band, and if they fuck up, we're all screwed. Not to say you can't fuck up on your own, but if they do, then it will be even harder to keep going normally. No pressure rhythm section."

I shot a wink to my left, where Cardin sat at the set, and Ren sat at the piano. Apparently Phyrra had recruited him when he inquired about a secondary band forming. Classical was not his gig, it seemed. Nonetheless, I was glad to have another familiar face in the crowd. The guitars and bass all seemed pretty competent, their gear and outlooks pretty good assurances of commitment. The only one who worried me was Cardin. The last thing I needed was an improv in the middle of a song where it wasn't supposed to be.

"Alright, enough talk, let's get to some sight reading. Open up to 'The First Circle', and start from the beginning."

The band looked through the folders I had arranged, and set about looking at the charts. Within seconds, their cries of shock rang through the hall.

"Hey, what the Hell is this time signature? Are you trying to kill us?"

"Since when do we have to clap? I wasn't told about this!"

"How do I even read this font? It's atrocious!"

"Alright, alright! Enough, all of you. If you _must_ know, the beat is 12/8 and 10/8, counted as such: One-Two-Three, One-Two, One-Two-Three, One- Two, One- Two, One-Two-Three, One-Two-Three, One-Two, One-Two, and repeated for the vast majority of the song. Eight notes are read as a single beat, and the tempo is about 120. Drums, lay down the time and feel."

Cardin hastily picked up his sticks, and put out a semi-correct, off tempo baseline for the beat.

Calling for a cut off with my hand, I looked over at him, with a small smile on my face.

"... Little trouble there, pick it up at Bar 1 again, little faster. Ready?"

He initiated again, this time in more tempo, but still off beat.

"Nope, not this time. It's okay, it's sight reading day, it happens. Okay, here we go. One, and -"

Cutoff again.

"Nope, not quite my tempo. Again. One, and- No, no, wait for my cue, One, and-"

Cut.

"Rushing, just a hair. Again."

"Come on, man, it's only day one!" Nevertheless, he commenced again.

Cut.

"Dragging, quite a bit, actually. Once more. One, and- No, no, _wait for my cue._ Okay, and-"

Cut.

"Rushing, you're close though! Another one, and you'll be good. One, and-"

He kept the rhythm this time, but his tempo was horribly off. As he progressed, he rushed another five to seven beats, and settled into an even more rushed, pseudo rhythm all of his own. I wandered slowly, nodding my head, turning my back to him. Taking a deep breath, and took a death grip on the chair next to me and hurled at as fast as I could towards Cardin's head. He ducked, and it flew over where his head once was, crashing into the sound shield behind him. He looked at me in shock, not saying anything.

I brought my hand under my chin, breathing heavily, doing my best to look as pissed as possible while remaining composed.

"... Why do you suppose I just threw a chair at your head, Cardin?"

"I-I dunno."

"Sure you do."

"T-the Tempo?"

"What about it? Were you rushing or were you dragging?"

"I-I dunno-"

I rushed up to him as fast as my Aura would allow me, getting into his face from beside him, towering over him while he sat at the set.

"Start counting."

"What?"

"Start counting, damn you!"

"O-one two three, one two three-"

"In four, damnit!"

He counted, and every four beats I brought his drum stick to his face.

"Now, was I rushing, or was I dragging?"

Still in his stunned state, he was reluctant to answer.

"_**Was I rushing, or was I dragging, you fucking Ingrate?"**_

"I don't know!"

"Count again."

This time, I struck him slightly before each count was finished, but so slightly that he would have trouble discerning the difference. His voice began to crack as I finished the last set of fours.

"Now, was I rushing, or was I dragging?"

"Rushing."

"_**So you DO know the difference!**_"

I knelt down to his level, and pulled his face towards mine.

"If you deliberately sabotage _my_ band, I will _fuck_ you like a pig."

I began to walk away from him, satisfied that my message had sufficiently gotten through to him, when I heard a sly chuckle, and a small voice whispering, "If only everyone else could get laid so easy…"

Having had enough, I drew my conducting baton and, without looking behind me, threw it with as much force as I could muster. When I looked behind me, the point of the metal baton had pierced Cardin's seat, just between his legs, and just south of his Dick. The kid looked like he was about ready to cry.

"Another comment like that, and I'll let the Grimm be the ones doing the fucking. Start practicing now, you Pansy-Ass fruit Fuck, or else your sorry, conniving ass is out of here and on a one-way stop to failing."

"H-how do you…"

"Know that you are at risk of flunking out of Beacon? I'm a Professor, you Weepy-Willow Shitsack, it's my job to know that without my class you'd be under the necessary GPA. Now, unless you've got something else better to do than save the world, play your goddamn music, and play it right. And for those of you thinking this is an isolated incident, it's _not_. I will not accept failure in front of the Atlesians come Summer. All of you are gonna be shitting me perfect 400s by the end of the semester, or we're cancelling the gig, end of story, and you get to be the ones to tell Ozpin why we're cancelling. Sound good, or do I need to waste more time on this?"

Not a soul spoke, not a soul dared go out of line. None of them had ever seen this kind of discipline, likely, even in a battle school, and I wasn't here to make friends. I was here to make a difference. If they hated me at the end, so be it, but I'd be damned if they made me look bad. I had more important people breathing down my back than them.

"Cardin, gimme my fuckin' baton back. I've got a band to instruct."


	22. Chapter 21

**NSFW INBOUND YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED**

* * *

Of all the times I took sacred on Remnant, the ones I spent with Dad were among the best. It could have been as simple as a picnic lunch, like now, or it could have even been in his boring as all hell business class, I was just glad to be there.

The last month had been a train wreck, even compared to almost getting beheaded by the Regalis. Both bands were falling apart at the seams, and I was fairly certain that Cardin was close to quitting, regardless of his GPA. All that kept him in check now was likely his fear of Glynda intervening. My own studies were coming along quite nicely, and I was nearly caught up to the others in terms of school work, but in terms of combat skill I was still years behind.

All in all, things looked bleak, and I needed a break. Coming out here for the first time in a month was exactly what I needed.

"You know, these days you seem to have an impeccable desire to off yourself, and I sincerely wish you would knock that the fuck off."

"Oi, it's not like i'm trying to get myself killed each week, Dad, life just seems to think that I'd be a much better gravestone or something, I don't know."

No doubt he was referring to my latest excursion into the forest, where I had managed to get knocked out a few times running from Ursa. I was lucky Blake and Weiss had enough focus to heal me on the spot and keep us from getting mauled. Dad was less than happy when I returned that day, and had been kind of off put by it since then.

But, needless to say, he shared my sentiment. At least when I wasn't in a Hospital bed. Those visits tended to be a bit more tense.

As much as I loved Dad, he could be a royal pain in the ass sometimes, especially when those "sometimes" involved him getting mad at me doing something I had nearly no control over. If there was anything I hated more, it was getting blamed for something I didn't do.

"Yeah, but at least you're here now. Man, I would not have been a happy ghost if you had gone and gotten yourself killed without me saying a good proper goodbye first."

"What do you mean? I had said that just before I left in the morning!"

"I'm not talking about last week. I meant before that."

His tone turned serious, and he had started looking to me with increasingly hard glances.

"Y-you mean with the Regalis? How could I have not said goodbye?"

"You were a bit caught up in the fact that you were probably not ready to go hunt something, and were freaking out. I had to keep you grounded or else you would've crashed and burned. I never really got the chance to say that, among other things. Sure, we had that moment here, but I never got to see you at the Heliport. That's why I'm annoyed. I want to be the last person you see before you leave, no matter what."

I gazed out into the distance over the cliff before me. Not long ago, it was here that I cried into Dad's arms before I had gone to fight the Regalis, and it was here Blake had stormed off after my schtick about being dead weight. Now, it felt like a totally different place. The small dandelions and tall grasses felt more comforting than they did before. This felt more like a graveyard than a hidden grove, but now I could enjoy it without all the strings attached.

"Never do that again, no matter what happens. I never want to have the same regrets mom did after you left. I don't think I could handle that kind of pain. I've lost you once, but to lose you again, and not say goodbye, God that would just be a real kick in the nads."

"You don't need to tell me about that, I felt the same way, y'know. But, regardless, we can both move on from that time now. You're alive, that giant thing isn't, we've got a nice lunch in a quiet corner of the school, and no one can bother us for the next…"

He paused, looking to his wrist where a time dial was strapped onto his open wrist. The other was occupied by the radiation tracer the council forced him to wear, which I had been spared from for some reason.

"Twenty minutes. So, I say dig in and don't have a single worry until you need to. Agreed?"

"Mhm, Amen to that, Papa Bear, chow time!"

Dad had asked the cafe staff to prepare us a little to-go lunch special, so the menu was still the same as if we were seated among everyone else, but being here in the grove made it a much more picturesque moment. I sat next to him, our backs against the wall, my tail draped over my lap like a napkin, happily eating a simple turkey sandwich and opening a soda.

When you were at Beacon, no matter how many times you came to the realization that the world can pause so easily, every single time it hit with that same refreshing zest. Every time the world would just be too much for me to handle, being here felt like a total reset, and I loved it. Being here with Dad made it all the more special as well. He had definitely gained weight since I had arrived, and he looked like he was sleeping better as well. The gaunt, forlorn look he had about him when we first met again had vanished, and some of his hair color was even starting to poke back from the roots. He had told me he was wearing his normal glasses again, and it definitely helped me recognize him more often, as the contacts he occasionally wore certainly didn't do his fashion sense justice. He definitely looked way better with glasses than without. All in all, I felt like my Dad was coming back from the dead, in more ways than one. He looked like a person again.

I put down my sandwich, and looked over to him eating his own. He noticed my gaze almost instantly and returned it in kind, adding a soft smile ot it for good measure.

"How many scars do you have by now, little man?" He asked me suddenly.

"More than I can count. None of them are big, though, my Aura sees to that. The only one that's really visible is the one Ruby left on my face here." I said, tapping my eye where Crescent Rose had left its mark.

"Good, a lady with too many scars loses her good nature. Does a hell of a toll on your bikini body too, from what I hear."

"Even if I was worried about that, I doubt it would be anything serious. Besides, they make treatments for things like that here, in the Outpatient Center of the Hospital. I had a nurse tell me all about it last time I was in there. Seems nice for people who can't fix that shit on their own."

"Language."

"Sorry not sorry."

"For me, at least? Please? You know I'm not a fan of cursing. I always hate myself after I say them too."

"It's a habit, what can I say?"

"A bad one, a really bad one."

"Right."

I picked up my sandwich again, shoving the rest of it in whole. Port's morning lectures often left me either inexplicably hungry or terribly sleepy, and today seemed to fall on the hungry side of the spectrum. I turned to the bottle next to me and set about downing that as well, drawing a surprised choke out of the man next to me.

"Jesus, chew your food! You'll barely get any nutrition out of it if that's how you go about it!"

"What? I'm a growing woman, I need my calories, nothing wrong with that! Besides, Dinner tonight is stuffed peppers, and you know how much I despise them so I'm just trying to offset the hunger I'll feel later now."

"Good strategy, horrible execution. Now, if you really wanted to-"

Dad paused hastily, turning to his right, towards the broken gate that gave entry to the grove. Blake stood there, brushing herself off from the decrepit metal on the gate, then looking up when she noticed both of us staring at her. Instead of wearing her uniform, which was the norm for a class day, she was changed into her normal outfit, which struck me as odd, but not important in the moment.

"O-oh, hi, I didn't realize-"

"No, no, it's quite alright dear, I was just about done anyways. You look like you have something to say, and I doubt it involves me, so I'll go now."

Dad stood up shakily from beside me, making haste for his chair that laid nearby, and began rolling towards the gate himself. Blake, in the midst of a what looked like an internalized storm, tried to stop him, but he simply shook his head at her, and pointed at the gate. She obligingly opened it for him, and he made his way out, not before shooting me a sly wink.

What that was all about, I wasn't sure, but he seemed to be more knowledgeable than I in whatever was going on, so I just let him go on his way.

When he was out of sight, it was just the two of us, alone in the grove, nothing but the wind and the grass between us. The campus was abnormally quiet in the distance, and it felt odd not saying anything either, but I was certain Blake would be doing the talking so I held my tongue, not wanting to interrupt her train of thought.

"Y-you have a-a, uh, a little something on your-"

"W-what? Oh no, where?"

She motioned to her right upper lip with her hand while I painstakingly tried to cleanse myself before her, definitely looking like a panicked fool.

"Is it gone? Is it gone?!"

Hesitantly, yet surely, she nodded, and moved closer to me, standing by my side, yet not sitting just yet. She looked out over the gorge as I did my best to hide my napkins and my shame. Then, I looked at her oddly and and poked her leg to get her attention.

"You can sit you know, it's not reserved seating."

"O-oh, thanks."

She slowly lowered herself next to me, still being uptight and kind of distant, but getting a little more comfortable as she went.

When she was finally settled, I looked out over the cliff again, and closed my eyes.

"So, what brings you to this little corner of the world, Blakey?"

"W-well, I tried to find you at lunch, but I couldn't, so I figured you were at the dorm, but when Ruby told me you were at lunch with Professor Cortes, I figured this is where you would go."

"Well, what did you need me so badl-"

I never got a chance to finish my inquiry, as Blake answered before I could finish with a swift grab of my shirt up into the air. Being so suddenly grabbed I didn't know what to do, and before I knew it I was being held directly in front of Blake, who had stood up and was standing no more than a foot in front of where I sat. Not giving me a chance to retaliate, she turned around with me in tow and threw me onto the ground with a large heave. I laid there, strewn out in the grass, the wind knocked out of me, not sure what was going on, and a little bit scared as well.

Again beating me to the punch, Blake threw herself down on top of me, straddling me at my hips looking down at me, then pinning my shoulders down when she saw I was attempting to sit up. Any hint of the hesitation and shyness that she exhibited a moment ago was gone.

Our faces were now quite close together, and I had no way of moving aside from a few measly squirms and thrashing my head around. Trapped, I looked up at Blake with what I imagined was a look of absolute fear, not being sure what else to.

"Now, then, with the elephant out of the room, we can talk."

"Jesus, Blake, if all you wanted to do was talk, don't you think this would've been a good time to just look over and ask instead of, oh, I dunno, pinning me down like this is suplex city?"

"...Once again I have no idea what you're talking about, but that doesn't matter right now."

Blake released one of my arms to pull her hair back behind her, sitting straight up, then letting it fall over one shoulder.

"What does matter, is that now we can have our own time together, away from everyone else. No one knows about this place but you, and me. No hope of getting interrupted."

"You, you do realize class is starting again in twenty minutes, right?"

"I don't care." she responded bluntly.

Not allowing me any more queries, she leaned back down again and smothered my voice with a kiss. This was nearly identical to the one she had planted on me in the forest, but there was definitely something different about this one. She showed much less restraint this time, allowing herself to explore my mouth with her tongue more thoroughly than she did before, moaning a little bit as she did. When she had her fill of my mouth, she moved right along to my neck, sucking lustily at it, arching her back in a steady rhythm as she did, releasing my other arm and bringing both of her hands to my shoulders as she tenderly kneaded the flesh on them. I had no idea what she was going for, but I wasn't about to call her out and tell her to stop, I was more turned on than I had ever been in my life.

Before I knew what was going on, I felt a cool breeze pass over my chest, and noticed that she had somehow transitioned from massaging my shoulders to undoing my blouse, freeing my chest from underneath the uniform shirt. Beneath me, I felt her leg slide between mine, pushing up against my crotch, underneath my skirt and soliciting a moan from myself underneath Blake's mound of hair, which was easy to get lost in.

"H-hey! Easy there, would you?"

"Nope" was the only answer I got out of her as she continued her assault. Blake ceased her groping momentarily to undo her own vest, which revealed the black sports bra underneath it. She easily tore that off as well, revealing her bare chest to me highlighted by the soft glow of the brick wall behind her. The bra easily hid their true size, as she outsized me by at least two cup sizes, and her nipples were as hard as the ground beneath us, poking out from the smooth curve of her chest like a pebble stuck on a smooth rock. It was perfection.

"Go ahead, grab them, I know you want to."

"Psh, want to is an understatement there. I need to at this point."

I wasted no time and nearly threw both of my hands at her, grabbing a mound of soft flesh in each hand, kneading them carefully as I did so. I didn't expect breasts to feel as empty as they did, I somehow expected them to feel a bit more full. But regardless, they felt like perky globes of perfection in my hand. As I went on I wasn't sure if it was sweat or juices between my legs, but something was definitely making me wet, and I had nothing available to address it as I focused on Blake.

As I attended her, she elicited soft moans at first, and as I continued they grew into groans and cries, her face balling up in pleasure, her lower half unknowingly grinding against my leg as I pressed onwards.

"K-keep going, I'm almost there!"

"Hmph, got me all excited and you're nearly there? So soon? I would've expected longer from someone so bold."

"I , nngh, can't help it! Feels too, ugh, too good."

"I guess you'll like what comes next then."

I was doing good on pure instinct so far, but I had decided that now was the time to put some of my knowledge of this subject into action. I suddenly rose up from the ground, coming up to nearly eye level with Blake, and brought her left breast to my mouth, making small circles with my tongue over her nipple. Sure enough, this sent her into overdrive.

"Hohoh, Oh dear Oum, nyghgh, FUCK that's amazing!"

I allowed myself a small chuckle as I pressed onwards, putting more and more pressure into my kneadings, even taking small nibbles at Blake's nipple every once in awhile. Over the course of almost a minute or two, Blake seemed to be reaching her limit, as her moans became more intense, her grinding more spirited.

"H-hurry up, I-I think I'm gonna…"

I didn't let her finish the sentence, and bit down on her chest one last time, pinching the other breast with my free hand, sending Blake over the edge.

She began to twitch in my grasp, every muscle in her body tightening up, her chest bouncing erratically with the motions of her body, her eyes going crossed every now and then. She couldn't have been like that for more than a few seconds, but watching her felt like a decade. As she came down off of her high, her head drooped over my right shoulder, the rest of her body going limp. She remained this way, breathing heavily for a few moments while I held her up, arms around her bare back. I myself was coming down from the high of being the pleaser, but even that felt like it was in itself rewarding. I had certainly never seen Blake like anything close to that before, and the spontaneity of it all was almost overwhelming.

As I pondered the situation, I felt my ear tingle as something touched it, sending a shiver of pleasure down my spine.

"My turn" Blake whispered seductively into the other ear.

Before I could react, Blake suddenly tensed up, swapping our positions on the ground, leaving me against the nearby wall as Blake sat over me. I was easily half a foot taller than Blake, so she looked rather small compared to me, but she certainly knew how to hunt against larger prey. She moved in for a quick kiss, distracting me while she assaulted my ears. I was unprepared for such an assault, and this left me dealing with a constant stream of electric pleasure flowing all over me. Not pausing for a minute, she removed one hand from my head and began working on my chest, easily throwing off my bra and mimicking the motions I had made earlier, but with a much more practiced hand. The bliss was inescapable. When she finally set my mouth free, I was breathing harder than I had been when I was running for my life. This was a totally new breed of finesse.

"B-blake, I don't-"

"Shhh, no more words. Spoils the fun."

Giving me a sly smile, she set about massaging my chest full time, getting far more time for it than I had given her. My chest wasn't quite as full as hers, giving her less real estate to work with, but she did wonders with what she was given. My chest felt like it was about to explode with pleasure, with every bite, ever knead, every poke, I got closer and closer to the edge with every second.

I had never done anything like this in my life, and hadn't even thought of the topic since I had become a woman, so the sudden rush of new sensations was nearly too much for my brain to handle. My grasp on the world around me was starting to fade out, my thoughts going blank, and as every moment went by my pussy got wetter and wetter. I felt like a living waterfall. My breathing got more hoarse, more choppy, my moans louder and more desperate.

Then, without a word, Blake stopped everything. She scooted herself farther away from me, sitting just past my feet. As I slowly came out of my stupor, I felt her hands go for my panties. I knew what she was going for, and I let her. I felt the band pull down, the fabric separate itself from my legs. I felt her hand over my pussy, two fingers brushing over my underwear as I quivered in place. She leaned down in front of me, pressing her face into me, making my back arch as she pushed her fingers into me. I felt my panties slide off, and for the first time I felt the cool breeze against my pussy.

I groaned with a new pleasure as she pushed gradually inside me with her fingertips, my lower body numbed and on fire at the same time. I spread my legs a little more, hoping something else would amount from it. She did not disappoint. Using her newly acquired space, she grabbed my thighs and pulled them apart, holding them in the air as her head dipped down into me.

"oOH FUCK ME, BLAKE! FUCK ME!"

I heard myself screaming it out before the thought even crossed my mind. She had begun to push her tongue into me, and I felt like I was in heaven. My back arched more and more every second that she worked, my hands instinctively going for my chest, massaging and pulling in time with Blake's exploration. My eyes were crossed from that moment on, I couldn't even think straight.

"Bl-... Bla-... I-I think I'm…"

It happened so fast I couldn't even register it for a moment. All of a sudden, my world was lit ablaze, every neuron in my body firing off at once, screaming in pleasure along with me. I arched myself as much as I physically could, my mouth open, tongue out, screaming in Bliss, every muscle south of my stomach rock hard. It lasted for what felt like an Eon, and then it slowly faded.

I felt myself come down off of my orgasm, my eyes begin to uncross, my back beginning to straighten out, my body begin to calm down slightly. I was breathing heavily, that much I could easily discern, and below me Blake kept her head down in my pussy, eyeing her work dutifully like a captain inspecting her cargo.

I laid there against the wall, stripped save for a sock and my skirt, body exposed to the elements around me, mind fried by pleasure with Blake leaning up against my lower half , resting her head on my stomach. She was oddly serene, even though she herself looked a mess, her hair thrown about every direction, covered in sweat and fluids, her bow even sitting a bit off center, showing off the stems of her natural ears. I could swear I heard a purr or two, but I was so mentally split that I couldn't tell if it was real.

As my breathing normalized, I looked out over the edge of the grove, into the sun that had illuminated our… whatever name it would be known as. I looked down again to see Blake staring at me, and continued to do so as our eyes met. Even in the bright daylight, her eyes could glow like it was nothing, shining their light on our pale skin.

"So…" I began, unsure as to what to do now that the fun was over. "... What happened to wanting to talk?"

"Oh, I'd say we talked quite well just then. The language might have been new to you, sure, but you and I had a perfectly good conversation regardless."

"What did I say?"

She kept looking into my eyes, and with a slight smile and a soft gleam in her eyes, she laid her head down on my stomach and said,

"You told me that you loved me. You told me that you want me."

"I-I, uh…. I said that?"

"Yep. With every motion, you told me exactly that."

If there was a time to blush, now would have been the time. I was stunned into silence, there was simply no words to answer something like that. She must have looked up and seen the steam coming out of my head, as she sat up and put a hand to my cheek, leaning in for another kiss, this time calm and short, leveling my head a bit.

"Want me to start from the beginning?" she asked as she pulled away, offering a look so composed that my thoughts were starting to come back together just looking at it.

"Yes, please."

"Very well. Faunus, by and large, don't date, not the same way Humans do. We have a little… Something extra, if you will. We have a much more finely tuned sense of attraction than Humans do. We could randomly wander the streets one day, and all of a sudden find someone we are irresistibly drawn to. We'll feel that way for the rest of their life, but the feeling is rarely mutual. Sometimes a good relationship can come of it, but most times it's all up to chance. Essentially, your body tells you who it wants, regardless of anything else."

She paused her speech, then looked right into my eyes, taking my hand, and putting it on her heart. I could feel her steady, but accelerated beat beneath her soft pearly skin.

"For me, that person is you. No matter who else I look at, no matter how beautiful, nothing will make me feel the same way I do about you. The feelings are just… incomparable, to say the least. So, when I said in the forest that I didn't care if you loved me back, I was accounting for the fact that you wouldn't feel quite the same way, but don't let that change anything. I do, truly, love you, and I want to be yours. Say the word, and it can happen. I want to be with you, for however long we both live."

Blake looked, again, longingly into my eyes, taking my second hand and weaving it in with hers. My mind was running at a million miles a second, I could barely formulate a single thought. I was sitting here,bare as can be, with one of the most extraordinary women I had ever known, having her confess her love to me with her form draped over my legs... and I was flat footing like some third grader holding hands for the first time. What was wrong with me? At any other time before now, this would have been easy, a clear and definite answer would instantly leave my lips, for sure, but now… That answer wouldn't come.

"B-blake, I-I don't-"

"-You don't love me, do you? I knew this would happen, I just-"

"Wait a damn second, would you?!"

Blake jumped slightly, looking at me in shock for my outburst.

I took a deep breath, and brought her close to me, as close as I could from where she sat.

"Blake… What you just gave me… That was… Beyond anything I have ever known, anything I could ever hope to receive from someone. Thank you… And what you've told me is that essentially you were fated to fall in love with me from the moment you were born… That's just incredible, really, to think that I'd have it so easy, just to have someone out there waiting for me, no interaction needed. But… I don't know if I can say yes to you, not yet at least. You are… Unlike any person I have ever met, like a star in the cosmos that only I have discovered, and you've shown me parts of yourself that no one would ever see, inside and out, but I'm just not sure if I'm ready for something like this yet. I'm not saying no, I'm just... I'm just saying give it some time still. I need that much at least to think. Life isn't exactly easy right now, and I don't want to say yes to this if I can't handle it. You deserve the best, and I don't want to be a disappointment."

Blake stared at me, her eyes saying that she was definitely crestfallen and disappointed, but her air of sheer determination saying that that was nothing but a small setback.

"I can understand that. I can totally get that you would be confused like that, so I get it. But, just remember, that no matter what, I will still feel the same way, you can guarantee that. No matter what, you could never be a disappointment to me. It is a big commitment, to be sure, and I'm not even sure if your genetic code is complete enough to ever have the same feelings happen to you, so for all I know you could or couldn't end up falling for someone else…However… do me a favor, will you?"

"Yeah, what?"

Looking away from me, she stood slowly and stared out over the cliff's edge, into the sun.

"When you do know, don't keep me waiting."

I paused for a moment, letting the importance of what she had told me sink in, before I silently nodded, then offering a small grunt so she knew I had agreed.

I didn't have long to think on what she had said, though, for not more than a minute after that the afternoon bell sounded, shocking Blake and I back into the reality of Beacon. I looked down at myself, entirely naked and covered in fluids of different kinds, cursing myself, and hastily trying to put my soaked clothes back on before I would be reprimanded by Goodwitch for missing part of her lecture.

"Ohhh, Fuck me!"

"I just did, didn't I?" I heard Blake say from over my shoulder.

I looked up at Blake, to see her smiling at her own wit, myself shaking my head, groaning.

"Y-yes… Yes you did."

* * *

I would be hard pressed to call walking around for the rest of the day with any sense of dignity easy. Everywhere I went, I felt like the glances people gave me as I walked by reeked of judgement, like everyone had been there watching us, and were now laughing behind my back about it. I knew damn well that no one knew anything, and that my self conscious worries were all in my head, but it didn't help to dispel that air of embarrassment that hung around either. I hung my head in between every one of my classes, and was especially quiet in every lecture for the rest of that day. When the final bell of Combat Medicine ended, I sprinted back to the dorms, eager to cleanse myself of the afternoon.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I regretted what I did, but I knew well that I shouldn't be going around being proud of it either. Hell, if Ozpin ever got wind of that, I would probably lose my job, or even get expelled. Things like that were meant to be private, and I felt like I was carrying it around for all to see. A quick shower and some laundry would cleanse me of any kind of public indecency, and that's what I intended to avoid. I elected to skip the elevator, instead speeding up the stairs as quickly as I could. In front of our room, I hesitated, looking to my sides to make sure no one was around, then pressing an ear to the door to make sure I would be alone when I went inside.

Hesitating again, but not hearing anything, I turned the knob quickly and entered as deftly as I could, locking it behind me. I made directly for the shower, shedding my Uniform at the threshold, throwing it into the wash basin, then closing the door behind me. Once I entered, I immediately blasted the hot water and froze in my spot, listening to the strident impact of water on plastic as I waited for it to heat up. As I stood there, I found myself backing up against the wall adjacent to the sink, then sliding down it, eventually sitting on the floor facing the mirror.

Hell, I wasn't even sure if a shower would make me feel better at this point. I could see the steam rising from behind the glass, but I let it run anyways, staying planted on the floor, simply staring into the tile on the walls, unmoving.

I looked down at my chest, unclipping my bra while my eyes slid downwards from there. As I sat there, I could easily think back to earlier on, when Blake sat nearly on top of me, taking them in one hand and using them to make me moan and yell. God, just the thought of it was making me shiver again, but I just couldn't help it. No matter how hard I tried, everything just kept coming back to that moment. I don't know how long I sat in the bathroom, but by the time I finally fully undressed and took some semblance of a real shower, the water was nearing lukewarm, and Beacon's dorms didn't have small water tanks either.

I stood under the water until it ran cold, trying to make some form of sense out of the afternoon, trying to rack my mind and synthesize some sensible explanation for myself. I just couldn't bring myself to understand why I had rejected Blake. But, even as I realized I was nearing hypothermia, I still had no plausible reasoning to offer myself. Maybe there was no explanation needed, maybe this was something I should just take for what it was, and not overanalyze? I shook my head violently as I stepped out of the freezing water, both shaking out the water from my hair and trying to shake away the confusion I felt.

Without breaking my step I threw the towel over my head and pushed the bathroom door open, walking out into the room naked save for the fabric on my head. I managed about five steps before I smashed into something, knocking me over onto the ground, the towel still covering my grimacing face, my tail slightly bent underneath me. I felt myself elicit a low growl as I wrestled with the towel, and was about ready to lash out at whatever was in front of me, but what I saw when the towel was thrown away from my face of vision made me stop cold.

In front of me was a metal wheel chair that had been knocked onto its side, with a thick blanket draped over its upward facing wheel. The disc was ominously spinning, and behind it, sprawled out on the floor, was Weiss. She laid on the ground, silently trying to raise herself up. Myself, too stunned from seeing her out of a Hospital bed, didn't try to help her, and simply watched. Slowly, but surely, Weiss managed to bring her chest up from the ground, without my help, and leaned against the wheelchair looking exhausted. Then, looking over at me, her face donned an expression of embarrassed shock, going the brightest shade of red I could imagine.

I wondered why for a moment, before realizing that I was still ass naked and showing off my goods to her like some bimbo from a peep show. I ran to the closet, grabbing any kind of clothing I could find (which ended up being a skimpy white half tank top and booty shorts), then dashed back out to help Weiss up. When I walked over to her, she had apparently fallen back down again, and was laying out on the ground again.

I walked over to her, and picked her up, but my hands whiffed at nothing when I attempted to carry her Princess style. Then, looking down, I felt the same pain in my chest that I had felt in the Hospital room, I felt it come back as I gazed on the bandaged stubs that had replaced her legs. Feeling horrible, I put Weiss back down again, resizing my strategy, and instead lifting her incredibly light torso back onto her chair. When she was fully lucid again, or at least conscious, I tried to talk to her, stupidly ignoring the stream of blood that was running down her face from her nose.

"W-weiss? Are you… Okay?"

Weiss, in some kind of stupor, raised her head slightly, and then dropped it back down again, the rest of her body going limp. Fearing the worst, I felt her pulse, and tried to wake her up again once I had confirmed she wasn't dead. But, despite all of my efforts, she wouldn't come back. So, with no other options left, I wheeled her over to her bunk, and placed her as gently as I could in her bed. At least she could recover a bit in peace there. After I had tucked her in, and made sure her breathing was normal, I examined her a bit more carefully. Her hair, which was flowing down off of her shoulder, not in the usual side ponytail, was incredibly thin and slightly gray instead of its normal glacier hue. Her face was sunken and sickly, covered halfway by a large bandage that wove around her right side, covering her damaged eye. The rest of her body was thin, dangerously so, and it looked like some of her dressings were even loose. She wore a small sweater dress, likely given to her by the Hospital, and nothing else. All in all, she looked like Hell, plain and simple. I was shocked beyond belief that she had managed to make it back to the dorm in this state, and that the Hospital had let her do so. This made me wonder just how badly my little "show" had fucked up whatever progress she had made.

Eager to escape the scene, in case one of the others came back, I made haste for the door, eager to not be around if and when Weiss woke up as well. I vacated the room as quietly as I could, wondering why the others were taking so long to come back after classes, when a small voice from behind me, making me slam the door in shock.

"Why be naked?"

I turned my neck around on a swivel to see Elodie behind me in the hallway, sans her usual outfit. I had never seen her in her uniform before, it revealed more of her face than her cloak did, and let her hair flow freely behind her in a long braid that reached down to her knees. I also noticed that her uniform was modified so that instead of the standard issue model, hers looked almost like a dress, the skirt joined to the blouse and flowing down to her feet.

What was more peculiar was that instead of her usually penetrating, blank stare, she wore an expression of innocent curiosity, her eyes ablaze not like anger, but in a steady smolder of intrigue. She looked less like a being of war, and more like a simple curious schoolgirl. It was something i had never seen before.

"O-oh, Elodie… Uh, how much of that did you see?"

She shrugged her shoulders, simply muttering, "Enough."

"Y-yeah, heheheh… That was kind of an accident, promise you won't tell anyone, okay?"

"Don't like gossip."

"W-well, that's good to hear, I guess… Soooo, what, what brings you over here?"

"Two things." she said shortly, holding up two fingers in the air in front of me for me to see.

"One: Protector."

"Y-yeah, that's right, I am supposed to be doing that. Here, idea: What does your schedule look like?"

"Yours. Got it changed."

Damn, Cinder must really have been serious about this if she got Elodie's day changed around just to keep her near me. If I didn't pick up on that more than I was already, I was sure Cinder would be skinning me for a coat soon enough.

"Oh? Well, that makes things easy, I guess. So, just find me at breakfast each morning and we can go from there, sound good?"

She nodded once, and kept looking right into my eyes. I felt the conversation growing awkward rather quickly…

Luckily, Elodie wasn't one to waste her precious time and saved me.

"Two!" she eagerly said, holding up the two fingers in my face again.

"Oh, right! So, what's number two?"

"I play in band."

"Eh? W-what do you play?"

Just as I spoke, her braid and her eyes alike literally caught ablaze, igniting at the mention of instruments. Then, in the most cutesy manner possible, she spun around and jumped in the air, saying, "Bass Trombone! Bass Trombone! BAAASSS TROMBOOOONNEEE!"

I actually had to duck in order to avoid being whipped in the face by her flaming braid, which I could feel the heat emanating from. When she had calmed down, she looked expectantly at me, not showing any kind of emotion other than pure glee. I never knew she could even get excited, let alone to this degree.

"W-well then, you should come with us to practice today, I'm sure we could use you. How experienced are you?"

"Lots. Play all the time."

"Really now?... Say, ever hear of something called Jazz?"

She shook her head no, and I felt my tail begin to wag back and forth, my own excitement beginning to build.

"My dear, come with me, we have a lot to talk about" I said to her, putting my arm around her shoulder beginning to walk off with her in tow. But, before I could, I felt my scroll begin to vibrate on my wrist. Pulling it off of my hand, and opening it up, I noticed it was receiving a call from a certain number that I had been told to never reject. The Council was heralding me.

"Oh, I need to take this, mind if I catch up with you later, Elodie?"

She nodded slightly and walked on without me, turning the corner at the end of the hall, and walking out of sight. I took the chance to slip back into the room, giving myself the privacy needed when talking to the Council. Lord only knew what they would want to say to me now.

When I was certain Weiss was still knocked out, and that no one could hear, I answered the call, allowing the hologram of the council to expand in front of me.

"Well, I know you want something, so just go ahead and tell me, I've had enough of a trying day as it is."

"Well, I know what I want, but we've already decided that keeping the world safe is against humane regulations…"

"What this buffoon is trying to say is that it is good to see that the Regalis did not end you prematurely, and that it would have been a shame if it had."

"Right" I responded, ignoring their obvious disagreement. "So, what do you want?"

"We want to give you your freedom back, in short" offered Defense, leaning forward towards me, looking over at Prosecution as she spoke as if to spite him.

"Citing data presented by the good Professor, it has been brought to our attention that you have come to fully control your Aura, and that your semblance has not only awakened, but has served as a means to limit harmful outbursts of your latent internal energies."

"Well, fully is a bit of an overstatement, but at the very least I don't feel that I could explode at any moment because of my emotions."

"Which is precisely the point of this meeting, Miss Clarence. We restricted your movements and placed you under heavy guard at Beacon because you posed a severe threat to those around you. Now, it appears that such measures are excessive and unnecessary. We have convened in private, and moved to revise the restrictions placed on you."

The figure to her right then rose from their seat and spoke, letting Defense lean back and listen.

"From this moment onwards, the restrictive measures placed upon Rika Clarence by this council are hereby null and void. To replace them, it has been decided that other than supervision provided by an appropriate advisor, when needed, that no impediments to the movement or activity of the designated being shall be enacted… In layman's terms, you are free, Miss Clarence. Now that you no longer pose a threat to the world, you are as free as any other. Use your gift wisely."

"Wait a second! I was only allowed to come to Beacon because of my Aura being unstable, right? So what happens now? Am I getting expelled?!"

"I see no reason for that." replied Defense. "Your scores at the school are more than required for attendance, and your tuition is being paid in full a per your employment as a Professor, I see no reason why your education should stop now, unless you feel that it does?"

"Nononono, not at all!"

"Then there is nothing further to discuss here. As we see it, you are just another student of Beacon now. Be Well, Rika Clarence, and never forget who we are. We certainly won't forget you."

Prosecution sat forward, and in an obviously disappointed and annoyed tone, declared swiftly, "This session of the Council has been declared adjourned. Go now in peace."

With that, the feed cut. For all of their professionalism, their lack of a uniform recession declaration surprised me. Nonetheless, being told that I no longer needed to be at their beck and call sent a chill up my spine. If this was how a marionette felt after being cut off of its strings, then I felt entirely that way.

I let myself crack a smile, and looked out the window. Next to me, Weiss moaned slightly, and as I turned my head to look at her, I was shocked to have her soft gaze met mine. She looked gently into my eyes, perhaps waiting for some kind of explanation.

I obliged her.

"I'm free…"

* * *

_**So, uhhh... Yeah, that just happened. And, before you ask, this is NOT going to become a Lemon series, so get that thought out of your head. Sex, in my opinion, is about the realest thing that life has to offer, and I want my story to be just that: Real. So, if you have a problem with Sex scenes, I am terribly sorry, but to be honest you probably wouldn't have put up with my excessive cursing if you did, and would not be reading this rant right now. **_

_**Aaaanyways, this chapter was kinda fun to write, just because I got to flex my descriptor muscles more than I usually do, and I gotta say the outcome was good in my eyes. Thanks for reading, and Cheers mates!**_

_**Also... **_

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	23. Chapter 22

Weiss simply stared at me, not saying a word, not doing anything. In the moment, I couldn't have given a damn, but I was certain that she was beyond confused in that moment. She likely thought I was a member of some kind of cult, and that I was being sent on creepy mission or something, but again, I didn't really give a damn. I was giddy with the thought of being off of the surveillance radar, that I was no longer being treated like a terror suspect. The matter had been at the back of my consciousness for the entirety of the time I had been in Remnant, and for the first time in months I could look out the window and be sure that I wasn't going to accidentally kill hundreds of people and be exiled to the tundra.

It was quite liberating, really.

"I-... I honestly have no…. Free from what?" she wearily managed to ask.

"Free from… Uh…. Huh, well…"

And this is where I hit my road block. I knew I couldn't tell Weiss about the Council, but I was certain that she would know I was hiding something if I tried lying to her. There had to be some kind of middle road I could take on the matter, but for lack of better words, I had to improvise my response.

"Well? I'm waiting." said Weiss. Even if I constructed a reasonable lie in half of a second, my hesitation had sown the seeds of doubt, and she would be loath to accept whatever I threw at her. So, there only stood one way to close the matter.

"Let me ask you first: How much of that did you hear?"

"More than I'm sure I was meant to, but… Enough to be suspicious."

Her words were definitely taking a toll on her body, tenacious as she apparently was. The pauses between her words were growing longer and longer as the conversation progressed.

"Right… Well, I shall be as blunt as I possibly can, then. You were not supposed to hear any of that, and the fat that you did means that there is a severe possibility of your life being at risk. Those who spoke to me were very clear about the secrecy with which they operate."

"In case… You haven't noticed, I am one of the most… Hated women in the world. Before Beacon, I was…. Followed by a full security detail at every minute. Another… Group wanting me dead isn't anything I fear."

"You misunderstand me, Weiss. This isn't just some other faction declaring war on anyone who opposes them. Their hand in world affairs is too large to underestimate. They are powerful enough to order around _Ozpin_, for Christ's sake. If you were wise, you would forget what you heard, and forget this conversation ever happened."

I was about to turn around and walk to the door, but before I could I heard the sound of wood cracking, and spun around to see Weiss's small hand embedded into the wall next to her, surrounded by a crevice of sorts of cracks and broken wood shards.

"That… Is no good, Rika. You told me… No, all of us, that you wouldn't do this… Anymore. No more shutting us out, no more… Secrets. I've had enough secrets to last… My entire life. Now, unless you want to go against everything…. Everything you promised to me…. You'll answer me truthfully when I ask again… Who. Was. That?"

Even with one eye, she still could slice Obsidian in half with a glare, and her hollow features only accentuated her naturally domineering aura. But, even if she hadn't turned on her menace, the swelling pain in my chest would have been enough to pry the truth from me. I never went back on a promise, and nearly letting myself forget one was even worse. I _did_ swear to her, and the others too, that this exact scenario would never come to pass, and here I was doing it regardless.

Breathing deeply, I turned back to her, and looked her dead in the eye as I spoke.

"Since I came to Remnant, I have under the close watch of an underground governing body that apparently has total, and discrete, control over world governments and acts as an impartial body in dealing with international conflict. They saw my presence here as a threat, because both my father and I showed signs of radioactivity under certain... _conditions_. My Dad's, I have no idea, but my own…"

"Your emotions." she interjected, finishing my thought for me.

I nodded, continuing.

"Yes. When I showed above average levels of any emotion that affected my brainwaves, my Aura would flare, causing a spike of Electromagnetic Radiation, usually in the form of Visible Light. That is what Goodwitch was trying to help me control when she assigned you to teach me Aura manipulation. But, I was told that if pushed enough, the energy would increase all the way up to Gamma. In other words, I had the potential to effectively Nuke Beacon, if I so much as got too flustered or had too much of an adrenaline rush. I was a walking Biological weapon. "The Council", as they called themselves, saw that as a threat. I was given two options: Be relocated, or learn to control myself."

"So you became a student… Because you had to?"

"From an outside view of things, yes, but I happened to know that something of this manner would happen…. Ozpin told me I wouldn't make it through the portal unscathed, so something of this manner wasn't as large a shock as you'd think. In the end things worked out in my favor, and now you know why it is that I was so restricted in my movements, why Goodwitch made you my Aura mentor, and why I talked to Ozpin so much."

"But your Aura is tame now?"

"Aye, and that call was the Council telling me that my restrictions were no longer valid. They couldn't care less about me now that I'm just a normal person."

"What about… Your Father?"

"I have no idea, Weiss. I haven't thought that far yet. But, now you get the whole picture, from then to now. You know why I was so scared all the time."

She nodded slowly, looking down forlornly.

"Being cut off from everyone else by a wall of protections… I know all too well. Being kept safe… Hurts more than being in peril...Your composure is astonishing, I must say, even when your Aura flared so much… I never knew that much was at stake…"

"Yeah, well, when everyone within thirty clicks is riding on your emotional stability, you kind of find ways to avoid being a living Nuke."

"Nuke… You keep saying that word. What is that?"

"A kind of weapon, using the power of Nuclear Fission to vaporize anything within a certain radius. The most devastating weapon humanity ever made back on Earth. The worst case scenario was them being used on cities, and having millions die within seconds, then millions more die from the fallout radiation… God, it still scares me, even when I'm not in the same damn universe anymore."

Weiss was beginning to look sick, and I was worried my grotesque stories were tiring her out.

"Nobody should have such a power… It's too much for anyone… I can see why they feared you…"

After those words, Weiss fell back against her pillow, flopping into her previous position. I hurried over to her side, feeling her clammy skin, and checking her pulse to make sure she wasn't dying on me or anything like that.

"Oh, knock it off, you Dolt… Doctors told me I'm not at risk of… Severe Hemorrhage anymore… I'll just be exhausted from... The after-effects of the poison antidote… Nothing to worry about…"

"They obviously don't know me very well, then, because telling to not worry about someone in this condition is a stupid fucking piece of advice."

"Heh, expected as much… From you. Hey, I just remembered..."

"Eh?"

"You knocked me over when I first came… into the room. You owe me for that."

"Oh, I… Uh, sorry about that." I meekly answered, while trying to hide my blush.

"No apologies accepted… I demand a favor as payment."

"Okay, what's the favor, Ice Queen?"

She went silent for a moment, and then whispered to me.

"You're going… On a Date with me."

I felt the blood rush into my cheeks as she said the words, my hand pulling away from her, my shocked gaze slowly pointing down to hers. She wore the same, smug grin she had worn when she had saved me in the forest. The one she used when she got what she wanted…

"I… I-I don't know about that Weiss… There are rules about that sort of thing, I'm a P-Professor, and you're-"

"The only thing that matters here, and now… You feel bad, I know… You do. If you want a clear… Conscience, you'll go with me… Rules or no. It'll be… Fun."

That was the last word Weiss could manage. She was already pushing herself to stay awake as it was, but keeping conversation proved to be too much for her in the current state. She collapsed again into her pillows, her eyelid heavily sealed closed, her breathing shallow, but steady. Above anything else, hearing that steady beat, contrasted with the diseased, irregular one of the hospital, was more of a comfort than anything.

After I was satisfied that she wasn't on the verge of death anymore, and I had managed to discern that her heartbeat was steady over a long period of time (having hyper-sensitive ears was turning out to be quite handy lately), I rose from her side and made for the door. Elodie was still waiting for me in the lobby, or wherever she had decided to wait for me, and I wasn't eager to keep her waiting for longer than I already had. Taking one last look at her from the doorway, I closed it behind me softly, the slightest smile rolling across my face as I lightly jogged away.

* * *

"C'mon, Coco, I _need_ your help on this one!"

"Sorry, love, but no means no. I've been cut off from my sources since the last time, there's nothing I can do."

"Ughh! Come, now, there has to be _something_ you can do! The outfit from last ti-"

"Child, if you would be so kind, would you please put your romantic worries on hold and fill out your worksheet like everyone else is?"

"R-right. Sorry Da-... Professor."

Dad nodded at me relatively calmly, and returned to his grading. Business was especially slow today, with Ruby out on a hunting mission and any actual learning put on hold until she came back. That left Weiss, Coco, Cinder and I to do busywork in its stead. But, given that I had much more important things to worry about, I had plowed through some of my other work, eventually falling victim to boredom and allowing my mind to wander. This wandering eventually fell to my date with Weiss, where it had remained for some time. Then, in the midst of my daydream, it occurred to me that I didn't have anything to wear that would match what Weiss would likely manage to procure.

This, of course, led me to try my chances with Coco, maybe seeing if she could procure me something in lieu of my past glamour.

"Look… I didn't wanna do this, but… You still owe me."

"What? What fo-... Oh,right…. Fuck."

Her expression rapidly changed from mild annoyance to that of a crestfallen guilt, as soon as I mentioned that certain incident. I was trying my hardest not to mention the fact that she had abandoned me with Jaune and wasn't around to help me, but she really left me no choice.

"Alright, fine, I'll try. I might still have something up my sleeve, but don't count on it. While I try to sort out the details with my assistant, get a backup plan ready. I don't know what I'll still have left, but… I think I can make something work."

"_GIRLS!"_

Surprised, I nearly fell out of my seat as Dad let out the loudest voice I had heard his scream boom out over the small rom. I looked up at him to see him beet red in the face, nearly leaning out of his wheelchair. I didn't dare to say anything, and meekly sat back in my seat, looking down at my work. As I looked back up a few moments later, he was back in his normal sitting position, and I could have sworn I saw a faint blue glow out of the corner of my eye… Putting my suspicions to rest, I tried my best to focus on the spreadsheet in front of me, silently praying that I could make that night work out as best I could.

* * *

The days that followed turned me into a nervous wreck. I spent nearly every minute I had free trying to work out scenarios of the date in my head, lining up responses and testing out certain flows of conversation based on how much I knew Weiss. I had never been on a date, a _real one_, before, and the thought of having a shot with Weiss was filling me with an anticipatory dread. To make matters worse, her absence in Band was weighing heavily on all of us as well. She held a key solo spot in the Jazz sections, and her skills for the 1808 Overture simply couldn't be matched by any of the other flutists. We all knew her condition, and it got so bad that even Cardin (who still feared for his Penis) didn't have the gall to say anything about it. Having Elodie around helped ease my worries for the Low Brass, and also offered me a good opportunity to vent to someone (since she was not one to mince words) whenever things got to be too much. All in all, that week was just one thing after another, all wrapped up into one big pile of stress and hormones. But, unlike the last few months, I was able to moan and bitch and scream and cry as much as I wanted to, without the fear of becoming overwhelmed.

That in itself felt like something I never thought I would be thankful for. Yet another example of simple life facts becoming so much more powerful while one was at Beacon. Yet, there was another thing that helped me through that week as well.

Blake.

Blake's attitude towards me since that moment we shared in the grove had changed, albeit slightly, in a way that only I seemed to notice. It was if one of her most hidden layers was suddenly was stripped away, only for me to see. The change was almost instant, and I felt as if she suddenly placed some kind of hidden trust in me. Outwardly, nothing changed from how she had interacted with me, but in the subtle actions and side glances she threw me, the meaning was rather apparent. In a language only her and I seemed to speak, she told me every day that she loved me, and that she wanted to be mine. She knew nothing of the reason for my hesitation to be with her, and I had no intent in telling her any time soon. I wasn't about to be the one who tore out her heart, but at the same time I knew that unless I explored my feelings I couldn't devote myself to her as much as she deserved. I wasn't willing to go to her unless I was confident she was the one I wanted.

Knowing that she cared for me got me through all the nervous breakdowns and wasted time. Even if I _was_ conspiring against her, to put it lightly.

And so, I was brought to the following Saturday, where I paced around my room from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon, waiting for the call from Coco that would tell me what was happening with my outfit. Weiss had been at the clinic all morning, getting fitted for her prosthesis, Blake and Ruby had found fliers around for a guest speaker at the arena and had decided to go, and Yang had been so drunk the night before that she was blacked out in the shower. As such, I was alone in the dorm with my thoughts and hesitations, still pacing in front of my bed awaiting my news.

Finally, after what felt like ages, I heard the familiar buzz of my scroll on my wrist, and answered the call.

"What do you have?"

"I'll be honest, Rika, not much. I had to really lean on a few employees I personally know, on top of hiding the transactions from my family…."

"Get to the point. What do I have to work with?"

"Well, I managed to get you an outfit, to say the least. Nothing fancy, like last time, and nothing nearly as high quality, but it will be enough to placate Weiss' keen fashion eye. You'll be fashionable enough to be out in public in her presence, but at any gala in Vale you'd be turned away at the door."

"That's all I needed, Coco. You're the best! Consider us even."

"How, exactly, me managing to get you an outfit can cancel out me leaving you to fend off a band of terrorists by yourself is beyond me, but if it's good enough for you, I won't argue, love. The bags are being sent up to your room now, good luck with whatever it is you're doing."

"Thanks. Sorry I had to put you through so much to make it happen, though."

"Eh, I'll get over it. It's not like I'd be disavowed by the company or anything! If anything, I'd lose my fashion budget for the year."

"R-right. Well, take it easy, Coco. I'll talk to you later."

I ended the call, wondering how exactly one was so interested in her clothes when they would be destroyed on a nearly daily basis by Grimm.

I waited around awhile for my bag to arrive,confused and a little anxious as to where my package was. I waited next to the door for some time, before I turned around and sat down on the floor next to it. My will to move was waning every moment, and if the delivery took any longer, i felt like I was going to fall asleep.

Sitting down, I looked out to the window, gasping in surprise when I did. Outside the glass was, what looked like, a drone of some kind, with my bag dangling below it on a cable. I walked toward it tentatively, unsure of what to make of it. Inching slowly toward it, I managed to make out a Beacon logo on the side of its lower hull, and dropped my guard, albeit only slightly. Not sure of what to do, I open the window it presided in front of, waiting for some kind of response from the drone. After a few moments, the drone, using some kind of thin arm, moved the bag towards the window, then held it suspended over the ledge. I removed the bag from its grasp, and after I did , I was greeted with a small flurry of positive sounding bleeps from the drone which ascended and left me alone.

I closed the window after I was sure it left, not sure what to make of the encounter. But, remembering what I held in my hand, I shook off my shock and made it my work to look over the goods that Coco had managed to procure for me. The outfit was encased inside of a regular dry cleaner's bag, and when I slid the zipped down it, I was left without words. Coco's opinion of 'nothing fancy' was a bit higher than mine, leaving me almost as stunned as the drone had.

"Oooh yeah, this will do just fine…"

* * *

**_Ooookay so... Yeah this time I kinda fucked up. Im sorry guys, University was much more life consuming than I expected, and as a result I didn't even touch my writing until two weeks ago. Im soooo sorry, that was quite rude. I promise I won't let it go so long ever again (u_u)_**


	24. Chapter 23

The cold air swarmed around me as I stepped off the Bullhead onto the landing platform. It was already the middle of March, nearly time for the Atlesian ambassadors to make their yearly trip to Vale, but nature had hardly taken notice. It seemed to follow its own fancies, and continued to persist in its pursuit of frost and frigid air. Pulling my hat closer into my head, I made my way across the pad to the shuttle that was waiting for me, the one that Weiss had apparently hired, indicated from the others by the Schnee corp. Logo emblazoned on the side of the door. The last time I had gone into Vale I had taken the train, but Weiss had made it quite clear that I wasn't going anywhere near that city without a proper escort this time around, especially since my lovely acquaintance, Winfield, was still at large.

As I approached the black shuttle, two men sporting stun batons and imposing CIA outfits approached me, looking down ever so slightly to meet my gaze from behind their sunglasses.

"Are you Miss Clarence?"

"Aye, I am. I was told to expect a Schnee team upon arrival. I take it that is you merry lot?"

"Yes, Ma'am. We were instructed to bring you to the mistress. Follow us, please."

Turning around, the duo promptly made their way to the shuttle, and opened the side door for me. I nestled my way into the back seat, and flanked on my left by another guard who was already seated and waiting. When I was secure, the two outside quickly made their way inside and occupied the remaining seats in the front.

"Charge is secure, we are en route. Repeat, charge is secure."

As he updated his status to whoever else was assigned to my safety, the shuttle jerked forward, flinging me into the seat with some force, knocking my hat off in the process.

"Oi! Give me a little warning when you go for the pedal, will you?"

The guard driving said nothing to me, and barely acknowledged my comment aside from a small glance from the side.

Leaning down to recover my cap, I looked around the relatively spacey compartment of the vehicle. It felt roomier than it looked, to be sure, and the walls felt almost imposing with the amount of padding that was present.

I looked to the man in the passenger seat, who seemed looser than his compatriot in the driver seat.

"Sooo… Tell me about this armored tank I'm riding around in. I'm curious."

"I wouldn't bore you with the technicals, Ma'am. I could go all day."

"Try me, Junior, I have an impartiality for things that are big and hard to take apart."

The guard turned around to face me, his eyebrows raised and a small grin showing under his grim facade.

"W-well, if you want…"

Suddenly, his chair turned around completely to face me, leaving us in a perfect conversation position.

"You're currently riding in the most advanced Cerberus-class transport in the world. This vehicle is reserved for the elite of the elite, with a near guarantee of safety coming with every kilometer driven. Chassis and axle reinforced with carbon fiber coated alloys, tires coated in bulletproof rubber, made with an airless construction to avoid flats, engine primed to the nth degree and tuned to every possible end that dust based engines can be, and with a backup motor equipped in the rear to ensure mobility at all times. Weaponry is loaded into every possible empty space, and an optional turret mount can be erected in the ceiling, if things get rough. Walls and floor encased with a Fiberglass - Titanium bonded finish, and the windows fitted with enough strength to withstand a Deathstalker sting. Quite frankly, unless we opened the door and said "come shoot me" there is no way in hell anyone would be able to hurt you."

"Holy… Jesus, is this normal for a Schnee to ride around in? Seems a bit excessive if you ask me."

"You obviously aren't aware of the mistress' reputation. Plenty of people would want her dead, so it's our job to make sure she stays the opposite. A Schnee hasn't died in over twenty years, because of this exact kind of vehicle you're riding in. But, I must say, the mistress doesn't normally send these to pick up just anyone. She must be quite worried for your sake to go this far-"

"That's enough, damn it. Learn your place. We're here to guard her, not to educate her, Corporal."

"Forgive me, Sergeant, I was merely-"

"Talking too much, as usual. Control your mouth, boy, or I'll do it for you."

"Oi! He was answering my questions, he didn't do anything wrong."

"It's not his job to, he isn't here to be your friend, he is here to be your guard, sacrifice himself for you, if it means you make it out alive. Building relationships with a charge is just a setup for trouble."

He said all of this without ever taking his eyes off of the road in front of him. He was visibly grinding his teeth together in between sentences, and his shoulders looked more tense than strings on a piano. I was obviously doing something to piss him off, but he was suspiciously riled up over just small talk.

"Well, forgive me for trying to be social." I told him. Pissing off someone who is supposed to guard you isn't normally the best idea.

"You should be sorry for much more than-"

"Sergeant, now it's your turn to hold your tongue! Do you want to be at the cutting end of the mistress' axe?!"

"The mistress be damned, this vermin nearly got her killed, and now she is taking it out for lunch? Has she lost her mind? Since when did the faunus have any right to-"

"Exist? Well, last I checked we didn't need that right, my dear. And, I will have you know that the 'Mistress', as you call her, is known to fire people that get on my bad side, that just happens to be how a certain man named Winfield lost his position. Regardless, I find the fact that you think these ears and tail have _anything at all_ to do with my relationship with Weiss quite offensive. After all, you don't seem to have anything like this, but you're intolerable enough for me."

The driver stopped the shuttle just as quickly as he started it. Turning his seat around to face me in the same way the Corporal had.

"You little-"

He attempted to make a grab for my throat, but before he could close the distance between us, I had managed to lock him in place with a solid black tendril.

"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you, Sergeant."

He remained in his seat, forcibly, while he squirmed against my semblance. The other two guards were stunned into shocked paralysis. They stared right at me, likely due to my suddenly dark form and glowing eyes. My semblance was still raw, in many ways, but so far I had managed to learn how to manipulate my exoskeleton in crude ways. A simple tendril such as this was child's play at this point, and more than enough to keep even such a large man pinned down.

"You! You fucking bitch, I'll kill you!"

"No, no you won't. You couldn't even lift your pinky if you wanted to. You are pathetic, weak, a pitiful excuse for a guard. Funny, how just a moment ago you had all the power in the world, and now you're being put in your place by this… 'Vermin', did you call me? You make me laugh. Coulda just kept your mouth shut, let him do all the talking, but nooo, you just had to go and be that guy. So, now, I'm afraid that you're going to have to deal with the consequences. Corporal, do be so kind as to hand me a weapon. Any kind will do."

"W-what? What do you need one for?"

"Irrelevant. I want a weapon, and you are obligated to get me one. Do it."

Obviously flustered, the guard fumbled with the latch on the panel next to me for a moment, before pulling it down and removing something from it.

"Good, give it here."

Without any words, the Corporal handed me the weapon, and I brought it into view. In my hand was a relatively small pistol, nothing near the likes of Arcturus, but a pistol nonetheless. I readied its ammunition, and pointed it towards the Sergeant.

"The Schnees have no need for disloyal men, Sergeant. Attacking me is as treasonous a thing as I could imagine. Weiss will probably thank me for this at lunch. Farewell, and do be dear, say hi to the Maker on the way down, will you?"

I pointed the pistol at the man in front of me, roughly, and pulled the trigger three times. The recoil was relatively weak, so the shots were accurate. All three hit their target.

I gave the pistol back to the Corporal, and scooted towards the Sergeant. He was still alive, his Aura had absorbed the bullets easily, but his protection had been broken by the final shot. He was as bare as a baby, and probably as weak as one. He was breathing heavily, with a very strained face.

"What, thought the Vermin was gonna end you, did you? I do have a rather malevolent side, don't I? No, see, I'm better than that. I don't go out looking to make people miserable, I go out to try and help them. That's why I want to be a huntress, you see. But, when someone goes out of their way to screw with me, _then _I make sure they never feel anything else but pain ever again. Because, you see, there is only one rule that I offer to those I meet."

I leaned close to him, still restraining him with my semblance, and took hold of his neck with both hands.

"Don't. Fuck. With Rika."

I squeezed as hard as I possibly could, pushing down on his adam's apple, then released him. The pressure I had applied would simulate suffocation for a time, but wear off before he could suffer any real damage. I watched, satisfied, as he choked on nothing, clutching his throat and likely thinking he was going to die.

I watched for a while, feeding malevolent lust for other people's suffering, then abstained. I motioned to the guard next to me, and without much else, understood my meaning. He moved across the gap to the Sergeant, and removed him from the seat. With him seated next to me, he sucker punched him to the point where he was unconscious, and then rolled him into the cargo bay behind us, closing the seal after ensuring that he was out cold and his hands were bound. The guard then took his place at the wheel, radioing the operative at the other end of something I didn't understand. Meanwhile, the Corporal looked a bit more troubled than I had expected him to.

"Problem, Corporal?"

"W-well, geez, I dunno… Wasn't that a little extreme? I mean, you almost killed him just for making fun of you being Faunus!"

"There's something you learn when you're a Faunus, Corporal, that isn't really clear to a lot of humans. You have to make an example of anyone that tries to shit on you like that, or else you might as well be the vermin that they make you out to be. I've lost my patience with people like that, and if given half of a chance I was positive he'd have tried to kill me. I've almost died before because of someone like him, so forgive me if I seem a bit extreme in my methods, but I was ensuring that could never happen again."

"I… I…. Okay, Ma'am. I guess I should report we're down a guard now, but other than that, this ride should be pretty uneventful now. It won't be long until we reach the city."

The Corporal turned his chair around again, leaving me in silence to think about the altercation. I didn't regret what I did, I made it clear to him that I wasn't some rabbit he could throw around, and I managed to prevent another assault on me. I was beginning to think that any time I went to Vale I could expect trouble, but I lacked the energy for that to be honest. Using my semblance for such an extended period of time, however I did it, still exhausted me, and my eyes felt rather heavy in that moment. Whatever consequences of my outlash there were, I would deal with them later. In the meantime, I needed a nap, or else I would fall asleep on Weiss…

* * *

"Honestly, I'm beginning to think that you're just like Ruby. Whenever you go anywhere you manage to find someone that wants to kill you. It's becoming a real hassle, you know?"

"Weiss, it's not like I wanted this to happen! You think I wouldn't like to enjoy a nice, quiet, assault free city day with you? Unlike Ruby, peace is something I can get behind, I don't need something attacking me every five minutes to keep occupied."

"That's true, unlike my partner you tend to dismay at bouts of violence that you didn't incite. That doesn't make the job of replacing the Sergeant any more difficult. Finding Aura users outside of militaries and the Hunter corps is a difficult task."

"By the way, I do appreciate the extra security you provided. I will say that despite the little altercation, I did find it much more pleasant to travel knowing that I couldn't be assaulted with a Bullhead again."

"My pleasure, it's only natural to want your date to show up unharmed, for once."

The small cafe we were seated outside of was nestled in the south end of the culinary district, not far from the steakhouse Weiss' family owned. The seating was out in the sun, warming our distinctly pale skin pleasantly. We were alone there, partly due to the security that secretly flanked our every move, and partly because it was a weekday, and no one would normally be this far out of the way of the commercial district at midday. The only reason we were not back at the academy in class was due to Port's absence. He had been called back to active duty in Forever Fall to aid in the tracking of a few of the Regalis' remaining offspring. As such, we were given leave from his classes for the week, leaving us with a large chunk of free time in the middle of our Wednesday.

"You haven't touched your coffee, Weiss. Normally you're a regular caff-aholic. Something on your mind?"

"Of course there is, I never let my mind rest. But, if you mean in particular, it's my prosthetics. The sensors aren't quite on par with my nervous system yet, and there is a bit of input lag in the motor cortex array they installed. I'm having trouble keeping a straight walk."

She swiveled her legs from under the table to reveal her newly attached limbs. They looked the same as the legs she had naturally possessed, since for publicity reasons it was decided that the metal underneath would need to be hidden. When I watched her thigh muscles tense and relax, there was a visible, yet minute delay in between that motion and the movement of the leg itself.

"Honestly, how am I going to look if I show up to the concert tripping over my own legs! It would be a public disaster of sizable proportions. Not only would I make myself look weak, but I would likely disgrace Beacon as well. I'm a mess, admit it." she said to me before chugging the entirety of her coffee.

Since receiving her new legs, Weiss had been working hard to recover the muscle mass she had lost during the weeks she spent in bed, as well as her reflexes. She was still nowhere near being able to even pick up Myrtenaster and fight something, but she was able to function like a normal human being again. Likely, not having her right eye was making a return to combat difficult as well, but there was little she could do to rectify this. There were no bionics that could mimic eyes available, even to a Schnee, and so she was forced to wear a simple grey leather patch over it instead.

Seeing her have the energy to chug the coffee like that was a breath of fresh air for me. I hadn't seen her do anything so strenuous since before the accident. To be honest, I wasn't sure how she managed to get the strength to walk around here in the first place, as she had been confined to a wheelchair since she returned. I really must have been that important, for her to go through all of this effort…

"... and I can't believe that I'm sitting right in front of you and you're still managing to space out on me."

"Kya! W-what did you say Weiss?"

"That I'm on a date with a lumbering neandertal who can't even pay attention for more than three seconds when I'm trying to show off my outfit to her."

Shaking my head to clear it, I looked to Weiss, who was now standing next to me, posing like a fashion model. It was obvious that she put a lot of effort into the display, as every little detail seemed to be ironed and pressed, nearly immaculate. She wore tight fitting leather boots, with just the top inch of a thick sock showing above the hem of the leather. She draped a long woolen dress coat over a frilly silk blouse and long pleated skirt, with the fingerless gloves and beret to match. Characteristic of everything I had ever seen her wear, most of the outfit was dyed in white or black, and she accented everything with small yet sparkling diamond earrings and necklaces.

Aside from the clothing, her hair was left down, a rarity for Weiss when she was out of bed, with the right side of her bangs draped over her eye patch. All I could see of her face was the single, exhausted blue eye with the trademark scar over it and the left side of her jawline. It warranted an air of mystery, and at the same time invited me in to see what was beyond that tired visage. Quite honestly, it was kind of hot, and it took most of my energy to avoid staring for too long.

"Don't worry love," she cooed at me, "we're on a date, you can look all you want. However, you should bear in mind…"

She maneuvered herself gracefully onto my lap, crossing her legs haphazardly and wrapping her arms around my shoulders, pulling me forward.

"If you happen to look with more than your eyes, I don't think I would be very… Resistant."

As she whispered this to my face, she began to lean in for what I would assume was to be a kiss. I let her move closer for a time, but brought my hand to her lips before she could initiate.

"Weiss… I don't mean to shit on your fantasies here, but don't you think that's moving a little quickly? We're on our first date, let's just take it slow, do normal couple things… Maybe save the groping for another time?"

She looked down towards my chest, then into my eyes, with a gaze that nearly cried out in longing. Her shoulders tensed at my words, her legs squirming out of time with her upper body. What I was telling her was obviously at odds with what her body wanted.

"Hmm, an interesting proposal…One that I'm willing to negotiate."

She flicked me on the nose playfully, then removed herself from my lap. Walking back to her seat, she made sure that I got a good, albeit brief, view of her ass on the way. Whether she was trying to date me or seduce me was beyond my comprehension, but I couldn't deny that she had an allure almost as powerful as Blake's.

"Sooooo… How's life been?"

"You mean besides having to adjust to not bearing legs that are mine anymore, and not having an eye, on top of not being able to train at my peak performance? Miserable."

"Oh. Well, that's… Opportunistic."

"But…There is an upside to all of this."

"Well, what is it?"

She sat on the metal chair across from me again, resting her head on folded hands, looking at me again with the same looks as before.

"You, quite honestly."

I raised my eyebrows at her words, unsure of what exactly she was referring to. Whatever Weiss' goal was during this time together, I was beginning to see a suspicious pattern of… Whatever this would be called. Seduction? Temptation? Patronization? Whatever the word, I wasn't sure if it was genuine or not.

"Pray tell, dear Weiss. How, exactly, am I the upside to almost losing your life."

"The words… They don't come very easily to me on this. I imagine that Winter had a little chat with you not long after she charged into the room for my sake. Whatever she said to you, I want you to hear my feelings from my own mouth, not clouded by whatever guilt she might have used on you. She had always had a very protective manner when it comes to me, and seeing me on my deathbed likely put her on edge."

"I don't think threatening to kill Qrow and I, while almost actually killing him, is what I would refer to as 'on edge', Weiss."

She shrugged slightly, and continued on.

"Whatever you want to call it, I want to say it myself."

She straightened her form, sitting with her normally stiff posture before me, her hands on her lap and her hair gently flowing with the breeze behind her. She looked straight into my eyes with a firm gaze, and spoke.

"Rika, there is a reason that I nearly died in Forever Fall for you. Ever since I've known you, there has been something inside me, telling me that you were unique. I exhausted every font of knowledge at my disposal, every contact and every tome, trying to find an answer to the mystery that dwelled within me. I've been sheltered from such feelings for the entirety of my life, and in lieu of confronting my emotions, like a proper adult, I turned them into rage and directed them towards you. I thought that if I made myself out to be some hideous creature to you, then you would vacate, and the feeling would leave me. However, as time went on, and the feelings did not leave, I was _forced _to confront them. With no choice but to stare them in the face, I made a choice; The choice to fight for you. I could have easily left you to die, claiming that there was nothing in my power to save you, but my heart wouldn't let me accept that kind of ending. I needed to know that even if both of us died, that you would know how I felt, and that I did what I could to save you…"

Her voice trailed off after that, her posture relaxing and her stone cold visage softening, however slightly it did.

"I didn't expect to be the one getting saved in that scenario. I never expected to be in the situation I am now. My life will likely never be the same from here on out. They say that my reflexes may never fully recover, that my Aura won't save me from another injury like that. They say it's too dangerous for me to be a Huntress now… But I don't give a damn what they think, Rika. I don't give a damn in the world what anyone thinks about me, or you, or anything else. All I care about is here, and now. All I care about is the answer to what I am going to say to you next…"

She looked me straight in the eye, fiercely determined and stoically iron faced.

"Rika Clarence, I love you, fully and truly, with every essence of my being. You nearly died for me, and made sure that I could live on to fight for another day. You make me feel things that I never even knew I was capable of feeling… You make me feel safer than the most elite guard in Remnant… I'm sure just being in your embrace would be enough to make me the happiest woman on the planet, but I have to go further. I want to spend the time I have with you, however short it may be for us, by your side, as your other half. Will you let me be that other half?"

She stopped there, looking down slightly, donning a look as longing as the one she had worn before, but tainted with a sad hope instead of lust. I could see her shoulders shaking, and her legs tapping the cold concrete beneath them. She blushed a sheet of rose red, and not just because of the cold. It truly pained her to tell me some of these things, and I was there to witness her communion with me.

In a way, I knew what she wanted to say before she even said it. Every moment I had known her had led up to this moment, every awkward encounter and adrenaline induced crying session, all of it convened on this moment in time. I was now caught between two halves of myself, and neither was an easy choice. Two separate women, on different occasions, had approached me and declared their true and everlasting love to me. I had to choose one of them, there was no option to refuse both, no option to choose both. There was no middle way presented to me, and no way to make one.

I didn't dare to look her in the eye, to let her see my torn heart. Part of me wanted this, part of me wanted to throw the table between us aside, scoop her into a princess carry, and kiss her until we both died from exhaustion. Part of me wanted to be by her side for the rest of our lives, the saviour and the saved living out their deserved peace together until the very end. Part of me wanted to grow old with her, to see her lie on her deathbed, and wither into oblivion… And part of me wanted nothing to do with that. It didn't want anything to do with Weiss Schnee or her life, nothing to do with her love, her hopes, or her desires. That part of me wanted another, and there was no way to satisfy it.

"Weiss… I-I…"

"You can't do it, can you? You can't say what needs to be said."

I looked to her, but she did not return my gaze. She looked to her side, away from me, talking to the air beside her.

"It's because of Blake, Isn't it?"

"How do you-"

"You weren't as discreet as you thought you were, Rika. I caught onto what happened pretty damn quickly after I spent enough time around you two. You two did something, and she most likely told you something similar to what I said. That happened, didn't it?!"

"Weiss, it isn't like th-"

"_Don't_ lie to me, Rika. I may be naive, but I am not blind. I know what I see, and what I saw was a silent discourse between the two of you. Just tell me this; What was your answer to her?"

"I didn't give her an answer. I didn't tell her no, but what she asked of me was too great to decide in an instant."

"You're her bondmate, correct? She wanted to be beside you for the rest of her life, the same as I, correct?"

"Yes, I am."

"I could only suspect as much. Blake is a very reserved person, and for her to place her trust in someone as easily as she did, the conditions would have to have been extraordinary."

Neither of us dared to say anything more beyond that, obviously gathering our thoughts on everything. To be honest, I wasn't sure what any of this meant. My head and heart were both in discord with each other, and I had no idea how to soothe them.

"... What has she done to deserve your love, Rika? She has done nothing, absolutely nothing, to deserve you. Call me petty, call me a bitch, call me whatever you want, but you can't deny the truth; that I've _earned_ this."

"No, actually, you haven't."

"_Excuse_ me?!"

"You and Blake on on equal grounds, as it stands. Do you want to know why it is that Blake is even a consideration for me right now? Because she put her entire existence on the line so that I wouldn't be robbed of my chance for life. She testified before the council that she was the one who tortured Winfield, that she was the one who knew that technique, and not me. She exposed herself fully and openly before the most powerful entity on the planet, just for me. To me, that is as much of a sacrifice that needs to matter. She very easily could have been tried as a terrorist, but instead they gave her leniency. She didn't tell me that she loved me until we left to hunt the Regalis, actually."

Shaking my head and clenching my hands in my lap, I took my turn at looking the part of the serious one.

"Weiss, you both have proved yourselves equally before me. You have both proved, with your blood and your words, that you truly care about me, and that you want me to feel the same way that you do. And, I can say this fully, that I have come to love you both. You've saved my life, and sacrificed everything do it. There is no way that I couldn't love someone who would do that for me, without a second thought."

"Then-"

"But, this is a decision that I can't take lightly. Ultimately, it will mean that one of you will be hurt, and I will be the cause of a lot of pain. And, taking into account our line of work, that pain might never have time to be resolved. I need time to think, even more so because of the Vytal festival. I'm not discounting your feelings here, I'm taking my own into account. I'm asking for time, Weiss. Please, give me that."

Weiss rose angrily from her seat, and made her way towards me. The anger in her face did not match the purpose in her steps, I knew she was up to something.

"Oh, I'm going to give you a hell of a lot more than that, damnit! Come on."

She grabbed my hand forcefully and nearly dragged me out of my seat, pulling me into the cafe behind us. Throwing open the door, she yelled,

"Everyone, get out, NOW! Official Schnee Corporation business."

Then separately to the guards outside she declared,

"Guard the entrance. Anyone gets in, or even near this place, and you're all fired."

Amidst the commotion within the cafe and outside of it, I didn't know what to make of the scenario. Why she would want to clear out a cafe, when everything that was just said was out in the open, was worrying me more so than the expectations she had of our relationship going forward.

When the last person cleared out she made a beeline for the storage room, still dragging me along behind her. Inside, there was nothing more than a few bags of coffee and sugar stacked on top of each other.

"This will do nicely." Weiss murmured to herself before bringing me out in front of her, facing the slowly closing door behind her. With force I didn't know she could still muster, she pushed me backwards into the sacks, where I sat as she appeared over.

"It seems I need to change your mind, love. Well, now's when you realize that a Schnee isn't one to be refused."

She quickly threw off her outer layers of clothing and began to unbutton her shirt. When her black lace bra was revealed, she threw herself onto me, locking me into a rather energetic bout of kissing while she attempted to do the same with my outfit. All that stood between my chest and her hands was a canvas coat and a thin blouse, and she made quick work of the former.

In between breaths, I tried to get out words, trying to knock sense into her obviously addled head. How she was even putting this much power into her advances when she was struggling to move not twenty minutes ago was astounding.

"W-wei…. Wei… Damnit stop!"

Finally breaking away from her vulture mouth, I stopped her hands from breaching my last defense, grabbing them before they could do any more damage. In retaliation, she drove her right knee into my crotch, stunning me and allowing her back into the fray. She moved me slowly into a missionary position while retaining control over me, mostly through shock factor, eventually having me at her mercy from below.

When she at last broke away from the kiss, she removed her hands from my chest, where they had been formerly situated, and began to make work on removing my slacks. More and more confusion assaulted me, with fear tagging along for the ride. I had little idea what was happening with all of this, but all I knew was that I didn't like it.

"You're all mine… Lover."


	25. Chapter 24

I was no more than a husk, my eyes a window into someone else's life. It couldn't be mine, something like this… this just _wouldn't_ happen to me. Not again…

Yet, here I was, once again at the mercy of another, my body laid bare for their sick, twisted pleasures. The tears were slamming into the floodgates of my mind, but they just couldn't come. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, like the universe was giving me a chance to make a plan. Even if I had a plan, I would have been too stunned to do anything. My limbs were all paralyzed with fear, my mind wracked with repressed emotions and painful memories, all the while my heart slaving away at the whim of my hormones, answering to no one but the one driving this shitshow. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Weiss wanted.

"Look at you," she purred in a low, guttural growl. "You're already starting to leak through your pants, and I haven't even gotten started yet. You _flatter_ me".

I wanted to say something, anything to try and wake her up from this pipe dream we both seemed to be stuck in. I tried to scream, but no one would have heard. Hell, if they valued their property they wouldn't have bothered a Schnee anyways let alone try and stop them from doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. I tried to fight back, but my weak attempts at landing blows on Weiss were swatted away with ease, even by an already weak shell of a huntress.

The roles we had occupied reversed so quickly, I wasn't even sure what to call them anymore. In one minute, I had laid my silent judgement upon Weiss' broken form, reprimanding her for her silly opinions and trying to justify my emotions. The next, I was thrown about like a toy in the storeroom of a cafe with my clothes being literally ripped off of me. A philosopher would have called that ironic. Too bad I'm no philosopher, because I called it something else.

Monstrous.

It seemed at moments that words tried to fight their way through Weiss' lust fueled fury, but all that escaped her were mangled growls and muttered gibberish. Of all the people that could have lost control in such a way, I never would have expected someone as composed as Weiss to fall victim to her own primal instincts…

"Alright!" she snarled, beaming down at me from her superior position above me, her words not truly making their way past my eardrum, the meaning lost in the haze of my mind. "I think it's time we took this… a little bit faster, don't you agree my love?"

I didn't have the will to answer her, just to groggily stare in her general direction. What the hell was wrong with me? Why wasn't I fighting back? In her injured state I could have easily overpowered her, not needing to use my semblance even in the slightest. Just like everything else about this situation, it didn't make any sense.

While I laid there, my chest haphazardly hanging out in the open and my pants torn to shreds, Weiss dropped off of the table and kneeled down out of sight. Doing what, I didn't know, but that wasn't exactly something new to me and it sure as hell didn't help my already panicked state.

The sharp pain in my crotch came next. So intense, so sudden, so mind-wrenchingly powerful was it that my thoughts were cut off like the frayed end of a rope. All I did was scream and squirm around whatever was being slowly inserted into me. As my flailing began to intensify, I felt a small hand push me downward, pinning me onto the table yet again.

"Ohhh, come now Rika. Don't _wiggle_ so much, unless you like the prospect of having your vagina torn open by the long, thick shaft of my little Myrtenaster, that is. I'd expect you to stay _perfectly_ still, if you value the prospect of having my children one day."

In between desperate breaths and gasps of pain, I carefully craned my neck to look down at my lower half. Sure enough, the polished silver blade of her weapon extended out from me, the handle lost by the folds of my body. Every thought I tried to make was severed in two by the agony, except the one image I retained of Myrtenaster's handle, adorned with jagged gems and unbuffered metal protuberances.

Satisfied with her work, Weiss snaked up my body scantily clad in her black lace lingerie, until she straddled my chest. Whether I paid attention to her or my body's screams, it didn't matter; I was in Hell either way. Her cold, ashen hand cupped my wet cheek, that demented voice cooing my name softly.

_This wasn't Weiss. It couldn't be… no. I couldn't believe such a thing. No matter what, this wasn't who she was…_

"Oh, you're so cute when you're trying to think things out, dear. I can see the gears turning behind those precious little eyes of yours. You must be thinking everything at once, I bet. But, I'm sure one specific question stands out over all… _What about Blake?"_

My eyes shot open, the haze evacuating from view nearly instantaneously. I could feel my limbs again, could do something other than lie there and take it. I took my chance, using all of the force I could muster to grapple Weiss and throw her down onto the ground alongside us. Desperately, I fumbled for what was left uncovered of Myrtenaster, my hand falling on the thin blade as I instinctively pulled back from it. Using both hands, I battled with my reflexes to pull on the blade, ripping the handle from myself, in a torrent of hot flesh and crimson. As I fell, tears began to leak out my eyes, pairing up with the searing burn that was left behind now that Myrtenaster had vacated my body. The pain, and the damage, I could worry about later, I had to make sure that I Weiss would go no further with this game.

Not bothering to try and confront her martially, I summoned all of the power at my disposal, channeling the little Aura I had left in me to fuel a tendril, throwing it towards the recovering form of Weiss. Dazed by my sudden action, she didn't have reaction speed to dodge and was subsequently pinned, with more force than necessary, to the solid cement wall adjacent from me.

"You will be _silent_" I commanded, at once not expressing any emotion and wracking my mind for some kind of justification to what I should feel. There was no precedent for this, I was drawing a blank.

I approached her slowly, one foot inching out in front of the other as I stepped towards the demon housed within Weiss' body. The searing pain from my nether intensified as I walked, the wet blood smearing on my thighs with each passing moment. I felt a loose piece of… something glide between my thighs, but I could do little about it. My mind was in a single track state, and the demon in front of me demanded my full attention. I found my gaze locked on her, unable to look away, unable to even focus on the splatter of her blood adorning the wall next to her. Nothing could deter me from what came next.

I felt the subtle pull of my semblance draw her in my direction, facing her so that she was forced to look me in the eye.

"You… I've tolerated a lot. I thought I understood you… I thought you were _HUMAN_!"

At the final phrase she rocketed face first into the wall in time with my hand motion, slamming with more force than before, then slowly retreating back to my presence. Her Aura shattered easily, leaving nothing to stand between her and the painful reality of my punishment.

"You confided in me… shared hopes, dreams… told me of _Love!"_ I shrieked, the fragile stoicism fleeing from my body, replaced by hollow rage and incessant doubt. I wasn't sure if my heart was pumping blood or pain by that point. Regardless, I continued.

"_Trust… hope… comfort… I offered you everything… I saved your life… DOES THAT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU!?"_

Words… by that point it was all nothing but words. But what are words? If nothing, they convey meaning, purpose, direction. As I threw that shell of a person against the wall, over and over again, the words meant none of that. All I could grasp was the timing they offered for my hand to follow, so that I wouldn't kill her too quickly. Make no mistake, I would have killed her. Her body wouldn't have lasted through much more of my beating. So, I adapted my approach.

Drawing her to my side, I held her in suspension. Walking around her, the pitch dark exoskeleton I wore mimicked my emotions; unstable, vindictive, and single minded. To me, nothing else mattered but correcting the assumptions that Weiss seemed to hold. After today, no one would look at me like vermin again… like I was nothing. I refused to be weak.

Not saying a word, I began to squeeze her from every side, compressing her just enough to be unbearably painful. She wouldn't suffer any real damage, not until I wanted her to, but I desired nothing but her pure, uncondensed pain to ring through that room. The sounds of her cracking cartilage and desperate gasps for breath brought a smile to my face.

"I'm the one who saved you from the Reaper, Weiss..." I goaded, stopping my pacing directly before her, staring into her remaining eye that barely poked out from behind the blackened swelling on her face. "Now, I think I'll let him have you. You've outlived your use."

In a grand motion, I swept my hand across her body, rapidly increasing the pressure on her, poised to make her pop like a meat-filled balloon.

I was so _close _to getting my hasty revenge… then Reason broke through the door and tackled me into a headlock. Amidst the blurred images of the room around me, flashes of yellow and red flooded my vision before being buried in the darkness of the floor.

"Rika!... what the hell are you doing?"

Yang's voice exhibited a fear that seemed alien to her. She was not one to wear her emotions on her sleeve, like me, so hearing the desperate panic on her tongue was at once refreshing and terrifying.

"Yang…" I felt myself gurgle into the cold floor. "You don't understand-"

"No, you're right, I don't understand. We hear a scream, then Weiss is nearly dead with you lording over her. What's going on!?"

"_Get… OFF!"_

The anger surged through my muffled words, fleeing from my body with explosive dark energy. Now freed, I looked around me to see Yang crumpled on the floor beside a now freed (yet broken) Weiss. Lifting my heavy heart off of the ground, I spun around to another presence in the room, then froze. In the shallow doorway Ruby fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

"Rika… what are you doing?"

The small, nearly inaudible plea for my sanity shot through that room like a bullet, piercing the stone veil of my heart and bringing me down off of my adrenaline fueled rage. I myself dropped to the floor, exhausted by the efforts it took to try and make someone hurt as much as possible and nurse my injuries.

Ruby's voice had been what saved me, brought me back to my sanity, but that wasn't what really got to me. The look in her eyes, the easily discernible fear and panic, laced in front of the doubt and anger she must have felt looking at that scene… it tore me to pieces. Once again, I laid at the mercy of my team, bawling and spineless. Only, this time, there wasn't anyone there to justify it to me, to hold me and nurse my shattered psyche back to function.

We were all broken, in our own way.

My mind felt as violated as my body, the tremors of shock soaring up and down my being almost in time with the sniveling I felt my face contort into between breaths and tears. No matter how close I brought my limbs to my chest, no matter how feral the screams of pain I let out, no matter how many times Ruby expressed her utter confusion, all I felt was the pain. Every sound brought pain, every motion induced spikes of torture, every single thought was nothing but a means for my body to cry out in agony… to simply exist in that moment was to be at the mercy of my body.

The screams didn't stop, that much I was certain of. When soft arms attempted to wrap themselves around me, I squirmed and resisted and screamed nonetheless. As the pain spread into my vocal chords, wracking my mind with a persistent burn, it merely encouraged me to scream louder. By the time I felt myself placed into a seat of some kind, the screaming had stopped… my body didn't have the power to carry on. I began to cough up something wet and coagulated, the taste of iron befouling my mouth. My vocal chords were likely destroyed, no longer able to produce even the smallest sounds beyond a guttural growl. I wasn't sure if the growls were sourced from the remains of my voice, giving into the feral instinct that I called upon, or the simple sounds of air passing through the blood in my mouth. I kept my eyes closed, for fear of what I'd find when they opened. I didn't recall much of what happened after I collapsed, but it involved little else than pain and darkness.

Out of the seat, onto a bed, rolling somewhere, fighting the burn of the bright lights against my eyelids… that was all I could feel before the sharp sting of something pierced my right arm. Bodies held me down, kept me from resisting… and then nothing. Not even the pain made it past that. It was all gone.

Everything went dark.

* * *

The pain wasn't there when I returned to consciousness. When my eyes snapped open, all I could perceive was the rapid drone of my heart against my ribcage and the soft glare of a lamp beside me. I knew where I was; Beacon's hospital wing. The rooms were always furnished the same way, with soft wooden chairs, homely lamps and an air of comfort. It was almost like they knew that my stays would be long, making it feel like a hotel more than a hospital.

The equipment reading my vitals hummed dutifully to my right side, reporting fairly normal numbers considering recent events. The firey dusk sky just beyond the partially closed blinds brought me some measure of comfort, for whatever reason. When my gaze fell to the left, my heart began its dutiful thumping once again.

Lying across two chairs drawn close together and situated just next to the bed, Blake snoozed with a hand draped across mine. Now that I was awake, I couldn't withhold the small twitches my hands normally made, producing enough stimulus for her to wake up. Before I could stop myself Blake rose quietly from her uncomfortable looking position, wiping her eyes and smiling easily at me.

"Good, you're awake. They said that the sedative they gave was stronger than usual, they weren't sure how long it would take to metabolize this time around, but given that healing factor of yours, they didn't think it would be long."

"How long, exactly?" I asked weakly, before jumping at my own voice in surprise. It sounded… alien, synthetic. Laid under my words was a distinct basso line, mirroring the overtone of my words in an inhuman flange.

"Only a few hours, and about your voice… turns out you did so much screaming that even your Aura couldn't regenerate your voice box. There was nothing left for the doctors to repair either so… they made you a new one."

"This… doesn't feel right." I offered, my newly acquired synthetic flanging eerily following my every word. My normal voice hadn't changed, save for a subtle gravel texture, but having it followed by that understone was awkward.

"They said the implant wasn't perfect, and it will take a lot of time to get used to. Needless to say, your singing days are over, and you have a pretty new scar to add to the collection." She spoke softly, obviously doing her best to calm me from my agitation, lightly patting the bandage on my throat that I just then noticed. I would've guessed it covered the remnants of my unhealed tissues, whatever was too much for my Aura to correct on its own.

"What's new? Honestly I've been here so much they might as well give me my own private suite."

"That's not funny, Rika… I don't _want_ you to need your own suite… why does this have to keep happening… why can't people just leave you alone…" she mumbled, her shoulders slumping and grip tightening on my hand.

"Hey, I know that… but in my position I can't really afford to let it get to me, you know? If I broke down every time I was in here, I'd be in a psych ward, instead of in classes. Humor helps me deflect this, even if a little bit. Don't take me so seriousl-"

"What else am I supposed to do, damn you?! Do you know how many times I've had to sit here, wondering when, _if_, you'll wake up? And how many months have you been here? You have a higher amount of time logged in the ward than any other student in Beacon's history! How the hell am I not supposed to bawl my eyes out watching you lay there, helpless? You've had too many close calls, Rika, your luck won't keep up with you forever…"

"I know that." I asserted. These same thoughts had been gracing my psyche for a while, wondering when things would truly turn ugly, when everyone wouldn't make it out alright…

"There will come a time when I won't be able to come out of it alright, Blake. My time here was made me a lot of enemies, and Fate hasn't exactly been kind to me. I know that my chances are running short… it scares me more than anything. I don't know what to make of death, what to expect. It seems like a foreign concept, even in a field where death follows you everywhere you go."

Words abandoned me for a moment, forcing me to reflect on the room around me. The dim orange light softly illuminated Blake's side, leaving her other half drenched in darkness. I smiled to her, and continued.

"I go back and forth between trying to understand it, and trying not to think about it. I'm caught between deflating understanding and blissful ignorance, and I don't know which would be better for me. So, in their stead, I simply exist on, choosing neither. But, I know a time will come when I have to decide, and I think that time might be soon…"

"Don't say that! I don't want you to die, I want you to live! With all of us by your side… with _me_ by your side…"

Wringing her hand a little tighter, I leaned closer to her, ever so slightly.

"I know, Blake. Believe me, dying isn't exactly on my to-do list. Besides, you know me; I'm too stubborn to die."

Hiding a small sniffle, face softened at my attempts to comfort her, the tremors that wracked her shoulders easing out slowly but surely.

"Yeah, you are. You'd sooner sit still and let Weiss lecture you about glyphs than keel over and give up."

"Yeah, you're right…"

Just then, the true gravity of my situation flooded back to me. The memories of the morning slammed back into my consciousness like Zweii on caffeine (which was actually near-catastrophic, for more reasons than one).

"Blake, where is she?"

"What?" she said, the color instantly draining from her face.

"Where is she? Where is Weiss?! I'm going to shove my fist into her skull and tear out her spinal chord, so help me God-"

"Oum's sake, Rika, calm down! Why are you so angry?"

"You mean they didn't tell you why she's near-death again, and I had to be sedated?"

"They told me that you were resistant to help, so they had to dug you in order to make sure you didn't hurt yourself more. They didn't tell me anything about Weiss, neither did Yang or Ruby…"

"Let me fill in the blanks for you then... she took me into the back room of a coffee shop and raped me."

I looked over to her, meeting her haphazard gaze with a hard stare, wringing the sheets beneath my hands in misplaced anger.

"She stood there, lording over me... then she said your name. I was weak, but as soon as she said that.. a switch flipped, somewhere, and she was dangling there in front of me. I nearly ground her into oblivion against the wall... she would be no more than red mist if I'd had my way... if only Yang hadn't stopped me..."

Blake's eyes were more than a mile wide, the tremors returning in force to her whole body, a hand harshly cupped over her mouth to stop the gagging from leaking out. The same tears that had adorned Ruby's broken expression when she first saw me now sullied Blake's.

Dear God, Ruby must have been a wreck. For her to see me like that, bruised and naked, nothing but seething rage and black vengeance breaking through my pain… that would have been enough to break anyone. I felt sorry for her, despite the fact that scenes akin to that would be commonplace for her one day, for all of us. The pain that I felt was probably the reason she wanted to be a huntress in the first place; to make sure no one would ever feel like that again.

The choked sobs of the woman at my side dragged me out of my internal machinations, panicked by the sudden collapse of Blake's composure. She sunk low, near the edge of the bed, before violently smashing a fist into the railing that divided me and her, leaving a deep dent in the metal. She stared at her handiwork for a moment, the sobbing continuing on, but the rest of her unmoving. Then, taking advantage of the newly created access to the bed, her form nearly flew to the gap next to me. Before I knew it, her arms clung to my chest, tightly wound around my torso to the point of shaking… the fact that I couldn't tell whether she shook from the force or from the fear made it all the worse.

I hesitated, waiting for her to try and comfort me in some way, trying to gauge her expectations, but the phrases and coos of comfort never came… until I noticed her true intentions. I was the one lying injured in a hospital bed, yet _she_ felt the need to be wrapped in my arms… and all I could do was hold her tight, no words would soothe her. I knew from experience.

When the world collapses on you, every stressor and doubt leaking out of your soul at once, all you want is for someone to hold you and root you to reality.

* * *

**_I want to take a moment to put everything in perspective for you all. As of just this past December, this story is two years old... I just find that crazy. Two years ago I was a quiet, conflicted Sophomore in High School. I started this story on a whim, but kept it going as a promise to myself, inspired by the death of RWBY's creator Monty Oum, a promise to create, a promise to carry on his dream of creation. Now, as a college student, I find the world so different from then, seen from such a different set of eyes. I have changed so much in two years, and so has my writing. In a way, this story has kind of been a chronicle of myself; not in events, but in desires, hopes, dreams, sorrows, laments, doubts, and everything in between. _**

**_To me, Rika is an extension of myself, the person that I would want to be, the person that is someone vulnerable and personal, yet grand and inspiring. She is my icon and my friend... and I wouldn't have it any other way. She is as much of a person now as you and I in my view, and I'm honored to have had the chance to share her with you. _**

**_These have been... a long two years, my friends. I want to thank each and every one of you, those who have been with me through it all, and those who have just discovered my vision of Remnant. To each and every one of you who honor my father's memory with your care and support for this story, who extend your desire to be a part of his tribute... You are the reason I write. You are the ones who brought me into this world of passion, this world of creative strife and elegance. _**

**_You are the ones who saved my wretched life, and I could not ever be more grateful. I'm not one to go about saying this to people, but I find very few words carry the same meaning as these ones do: God Bless you, each and every one of you. _**

**_Thank you. Ever and always, cheers mates. ^_^_**

**_\- Hanji _**

**_P.S: We've been through enough, so feel free to call me Scooter, my real name._**


End file.
